Sport: World Series

In an improbable, seven-game stretch

of derring-do, the big men of both the

Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York

Yankees lived up to their clippings. For

New York, Mickey Mantle hit three home

runs, Yogi Berra delivered in the clutch,

and Whitey Ford pitched two shutouts.

For Pittsburgh, Vernon Law won two

games, Ace Reliefer El Roy Face stalked

out of the bullpen to save three games,

and Shortstop Dick Groat, the National

League’s leading hitter, rapped out some

timely hits. The Yankees set 51 World

Series records, including a fantastic team

batting average of .338. But in the end,

the 1960 World Series belonged to the

journeyman ballplayer who made up for

his long, lean years with one giddy fling

at glory.

The uprising of the downtrodden started in the very first game. With a season batting average of .273, Pirate Second Baseman Bill Mazeroski, 24, had been ignominiously relegated to the eighth spot in the batting order, the slot reserved for the pattyball hitters. So with one man on, Mazeroski pulled a ball over the ivy-covered leftfield brick wall in Forbes Field, and the Pirates were on their way to their first 6-4 victory.

“Whango!” The Yankees’ No. 8 hitter was another second baseman: Bobby Richardson, 25, this year the epitome of the goodfield, no-hit infielder. All season long he had only hit a single home run But in the third game of the series Richardson hit a grand-slam home run to lead his team to a 10-0 victory and in the sixth, belted two towering triples as the Yankees won, 12-0. Richardson’s final total of twelve runs batted in set a World

Series record and surpassed by two the previous record held by Ted Kluszewski and Yogi Berra. “I’m just doing the same old things in the same old way,” said Richardson in wonderment. “But, whango, something seems to happen to the ball.” All this was prelude to the seventh and deciding game. In the first inning, with one man on base, up to bat stepped a garrulous vagabond named Rocky Nelson, 35. In his 16-season baseball career, Nelson had played for six big-league teams and been consigned to the minors five times before finally catching on with Pittsburgh, where he was revered for the art of chewing tobacco for a full hour without spitting. Against Yankee Bob Turley (who neither smokes nor chews), Nelson drove a two-run homer over the rightfield wall and the Pirates led 2-0.

Hoisting a Highball. As they had so often over the regular season, the Yankees fought back and were leading, 7-6, in the eighth inning, when another of baseball’s castoffs, Catcher Hal Smith, 29, came to bat for Pittsburgh. On a pitch low and fast, Smith hit a three-run homer to give the Pirates a 9-7 lead.

Once again, the Yankees rallied. The score was 9-9 in the last of the ninth when up came Mazeroski. The scouting reports said curve him low, but Yankee Pitcher Ralph Terry cut loose a high fastball. Out in left field, Yogi Berra dutifully ran back to the wall and watched the ball disappear over his head. Rounding second base, Mazeroski pulled off his cap, whirled his arms, bounded with glee like a kid on Christmas morning and galloped home with the winning run. Summed up Baseball Commissioner Ford Frick: “The most dramatic finish to a World Series I’ve ever seen.”