Athletes - Bill Mazeroski

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	Athletes - Bill Mazeroski

William Stanley Mazeroski (born September 5, 1936 in Wheeling, West Virginia), nicknamed "Maz", and also called simply "The Glove" by radio broadcaster Bob Prince, is a former Major League Baseball player. Although primarily a sterling defensive player, he is best known for being the first player in Major League history to win the World Series with a game-ending home run in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series.

Early Years

Bill Mazeroski attended Warren Consolidated High School in Tiltonsville, Ohio and excelled in both baseball and basketball. He started on the varsity baseball team as a freshman.

As a 17-year-old in 1954, Mazeroski signed with the Pittsburgh Pirates, a team for which he would play his entire career. Originally signed as a shortstop, he was quickly moved to second base and made his Major League debut on July 7, 1956.

Baseball Career

Mazeroski was noted for his defensive prowess and earned his first of eight Gold Glove Awards in 1958. He had a career .983 fielding percentage and led the National League in assists nine times, and holds the major league career record for double plays by a second baseman.

Despite his defensive play often overshadowing his offensive contributions, Mazeroski had several fine offensive seasons. In 1958, he hit .275, hit 19 home runs (a career best) and had 68 RBIs and was considered for the MVP Award. In 1966 he knocked in 82, a career best. During his peak seasons (1957-68), he drove in more runs than any other middle infielder of the period.

In the 1960 World Series, Mazeroski hit a game-winning home run off New York Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry which won the series for Pittsburgh. It was the first time a World Series had ever been ended by a home run and will likely remain the defining event of Mazeroski's career. (The feat has been accomplished once since, by Joe Carter in the 1993 World Series.)

Today, a portion of the brick left field wall from Forbes Field remains standing, along with a marker where the sudden-victory homer cleared the wall, as a historical monument on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Pittsburgh's Oakland District. Also, there is a softball diamond behind the wall, called Bill Mazeroski Field.

Honors and Remembrances

In a staged cameo appearance in the movie version of The Odd Couple, Mazeroski hit into a game-ending triple play at Shea Stadium, which sportswriter Oscar Madison was unable to watch, being distracted by an annoying phone call from Felix Unger. In reality, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, Mazeroski never hit into a triple play in his career, but was part of two triple plays as a fielder.

Mazeroski was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. Reading his prepared speech, he only got as far as thanking the Veterans Committee voters for choosing a player based largely on defensive skills (a rarity in the Hall), before becoming so emotional and teary-eyed that he had to stop, apologizing to those who "had to come all the way up here to hear this crap!" He then sat down, while the audience and his fellow Hall-of-Famers stood and gave Maz a loud and long ovation.

Warren Consolidated High School has since joined other schools to form Buckeye Local High School in Rayland, Ohio. Buckeye Local honored him in 2003 naming their new baseball field after him and placing a monument behind home plate, near the road.

In 2004, the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference honored Mazeroski by selecting him to the first class of honorees in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. Mazeroski was introduced by veteran sports writer Rick DeLuca, a 1970 graduate of Maz's Warren Consolidated High School. Maz was inducted with a group that included former Boston Celtics great John Havilcek and former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas.

Accomplishments

7-time All-Star (1958-60, 1962 -64,1967)
8-time National League Gold Glove winner 2B (1958, 1960-61, 1963-67)
* In 1966 and 1967, Mazeroski and shortstop Gene Alley
won two Gold Gloves, joining a select list of eight shortstop-second baseman duos have won the honor in the same season while playing together.
Finished 8th in National League MVP voting (1958)
Selected to the Baseball Hall of Fame (2001)

[ Visit the complete Wikipedia entry for Bill Mazeroski ]

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Athletes - Bill Mazeroski

Early Years

Baseball Career

Honors and Remembrances

Accomplishments

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