Bill Mazeroski, the Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman celebrated for his defense and 1960 World Series-winning walk-off home run against the New York Yankees that became one of baseball's defining moments, has died. He was 89. Mazeroski died Friday in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, the Pirates announced, per the AP. He was a proponent of the importance of defense, while acknowledging that his was overshadowed by a single swing that defeated a dynasty—one that's ranked by USA Today as the No. 1 World Series walk-off homer in baseball history. "It's weird," Mazeroski said, per the Athletic. "I'm known for the home run and I'm in the Hall of Fame because of my defense."
Mazeroski spent his entire 17-year major league career with the Pirates, debuting in 1956 and remaining with the club through 1972. He won eight Gold Gloves, led the National League in putouts five times and assists nine times, and turned 1,706 double plays—a record for second basemen. His offensive numbers were modest, per the Washington Post: a .260 career batting average, no 20-homer seasons, and not a season with 85 runs batted in. Mazeroski was a 10-time All-Star who also won a World Series with the Pirates in 1971. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001 by the Veterans Committee, an uncommon honor for a player enshrined largely for fielding.
His signature moment came on Oct. 13, 1960, in Game 7 against the heavily favored Yankees. With the score tied 9-9 in the bottom of the ninth at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field, Mazeroski led off and hit Ralph Terry's second pitch over the left-center-field wall, clinching the Pirates' first championship since 1925. It remains the only walk-off home run in a World Series Game 7. The blast set off a citywide celebration described by Sports Illustrated at the time as overwhelming downtown Pittsburgh; the streets jammed and bars ran out of glassware. "It was bigger than V-E Day, bigger even than V-J Day," the magazine reported.
The homer stunned the Yankees, whose biggest star, Mickey Mantle, cried at his locker, per the Post. He also broke down on the plane ride to New York, per the AP, insisting the better team had lost; the Yankees had outscored the Pirates overall 55-27. Mazeroski's shot is still the only Game 7 walk-off winner. The Pirates retired Mazeroski's No. 9 in 1987 and unveiled a 14-foot statue of him in his World Series home run trot outside PNC Park in 2010. His induction speech in 2001 in Cooperstown was one of the shortest ever, per the Post. "Defense deserves as much credit as pitching and hitting, and I'm proud and honored to be going into the Hall of Fame on the defensive side," he said. "I feel special." Mazeroski then broke down and couldn't go on.
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