A Time When I Was A Pirates Fan

There was a short time that I abandoned Aparicio and the White Sox. That was during the 1960 World Series and for very good reason. I become one of the many fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates who had won the National League pennant and were trying to best the mighty New York Yankees.

This may have been a pre-cursor to my switch to the Cubs in the early 1970’s. Certainly no one with any sense thought that the Pirates could beat the Yankees led by Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris and Whitey Ford. Anyone who believed in the 1960 Pirates would be qualified to be a die hard Cubs fan.

In the end, the 1960 World Series came down to a deciding 7^th game. When Bill Mazeroski came to bat in the bottom of the ninth, the game was tied at 9. With one swing Mazeroski hit a home run to win the game and the series for the Pirates.

I know that I was listening to the broadcast on radio. October 13, 1960 was a Thursday. I was a 7^th grader at Elwood Haynes Junior High School in Kokomo, Indiana. My memory of exactly where I was at 3:30 PM that day is a bit fuzzy. I may have been on the school bus coming home from school when Mazeroski hit the home run to end the game.

I have several items pertaining to this game on the walls of my office/hobby room. These items in clued a color copy of the World Series Program, the very familiar photo from behind home plate that captures Mazeroski’s swing that launched the ball to left field and two baseball cards featuring Mazeroski and the home run. These were all posted on October 19, 2009 in this blog. Go to my older posts to check these items out.

I have another photo that I did not put in the earlier post. The photo came from a friend who grew up in the Pittsburgh area. The photo features the entire 1960 Pittsburgh Pirates team. Although the photo has a few wrinkles, it makes a great addition to my collection.

I continued to follow the Pirates after 1960 but my favorite team was still the White Sox. That was at least until 1975 when I switched to the Red Sox. But again that is another story for another post.

1960 Cubs Scorecard

Today, I am featuring another scorecard that I have obtained for my collection. This scorecard comes from 1960 and in particular the game played at Wrigley Field on June 28, 1960 between the Braves and the Cubs. This game featured six future members of the Hall of Fame in the lineups of the two teams.

Eddie Mathews
Hank Aaron
Warren Spahn
Red Schoendienst
Ernie Banks
Richie Ashburn

The game was played like so many of the earlier era. The two starting pitchers (Warren Spahn and Glen Hobbie) both had complete games. Both pitchers would finish the year with league leading W-L stats. Spahn would lead the league with 21 victories and Hobbie would lead the league with 20 losses.

The final score of this game would be 5 to 3 in favor of the Braves. The hitting star for the Braves was not Aaron or Mathews but rather Wes Covington who had three hits including a HR and 3 RBIs. Richie Ashburn would collect three hits and two RBIs for the Cubs.

By this time the Cubs were already 15 games behind in the standings and would finish the year in 7th place with a record of 60 wins and 94 losses. This record was one more win than the Phillies managed come up with.

October 13, 1960

Game 7 of the 1960 World Series gets my vote as the greatest World Series game of all time. The Pirates beat the Yankees with a score of 10 to 9. Bill Mazeroski hit the walk-off home run in the bottom of the 9th inning that won the 1960 World Series.
I was a 7th grader at the time in north central Indiana. My two favorite MLB teams were the White Sox and whoever was playing the Yankees. So I was hoping like many that the over-matched Pirates could some how pull off a miracle……..and they did.

Was this the greatest game ever? Well, that will never be settled for sure. There are just too many great moments and game in World Series history to be able to pick just one. Of the games that I have personally watched or listened to, several could fall into the category of greatest.

For example, Game 6 of the 1975 World Series certainly is memorable. The battle between the Red Sox and the Reds was finally decided by that dramatic HR by Carlton Fisk.

Then, of course, there was Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. Kirby Puckett won that game with an 11th inning HR. The Twins beat the Braves 1-0 in game 6. This is often included because then in Game 7, Jack Morris threw a 10 inning shut-out to complete the Twins magical ride.

In 1956, Don Larsen tossed his perfect game. The 1962 Yankee win over the Giants (1-0) must be included as well as the 1924 extra inning Senator win over the Giants.

The purpose of this posting is not to generate any additional discussion of great World Series games but rather to present a book that I am currently reading. The Book is The Best Game Ever by Jim Reisler. This book focuses on the October 13, 1960 World Series game between the Pirates and the Yankees. The author proceeds inning by inning through this game presenting a play by play account along with historical perspectives on many of the player that were involved.

If you enjoy reading about the rich history of baseball, this book should be a part of your library. I found the book on the Barnes and Noble site as a used book for a very reasonable price. Throughout this posting, I have included scans on some of the memorabilia that I have collected specific to this game. I hope that you enjoy the scans and the book if you choose to read it.