In Memoriam: Bill Mazeroski
Almost every kid who has ever played baseball fantasizes coming up in the bottom of the ninth inning during the seventh game of the World Series and hitting a home run to win it.
Only one person has ever accomplished this. It occurred on October 13, 1960, at 3:36 p.m. That was when Pittsburgh Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski deposited New York Yankees pitcher Ralph Terry’s slider over the brick wall at Forbes Field to bring a World Series championship to Pittsburgh for the first time in 35 years. It was the most memorable moment of a career that led Maz to the Baseball Hall of Fame, although he was elected more for his brilliant fielding than his hitting.
Mazeroski died at the age of 89 on February 20, 2026. In seventeen seasons with the Pirates from 1956 to 1972, Mazeroski was a 10-time All-Star and eight-time recipient of the Rawlings Gold Glove Award. He holds the all-time record for most double plays turned by a second baseman (1,706) and ranks in the top 10 at the position in career putouts and assists, more than a half-century after his retirement.
William Stanley Mazeroski was born on September 5, 1936, in Wheeling, West Virginia, 60 miles from Pittsburgh. He grew up just across the Ohio River in Tiltonville, Ohio, and was a multisport star at Warren Consolidated High School. He signed with the Pirates after graduation and his defensive prowess quickly moved him up the ranks of the minor leagues. He made his major league debut on September 7, 1956, collecting his first hit and first double play in his first game.
He had a breakout year in 1958, winning his first Gold Glove Award at second base and benefiting from the teachings of Hall of Famer George Sisler to improve his offensive performance. In 1960, the Pirates turned a corner and won the National League pennant. Facing the mighty New York Yankees, the Pirates took the World Series to a full seven games. Each Yankees victory was a blowout; in their three wins they outscored Pittsburgh 38-3. Game Seven was the most dramatic game of all. After a seesaw battle through eight and half innings, Mazeroski came up to the plate in the bottom of the ninth with a chance to play the hero. His home run off Ralph Terry set off a raucous celebration in Pittsburgh.
According to the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, “Mazeroski, who must be the greatest .270 hitter in baseball – he is today, that’s for certain – went sailing around the bases waving his hat in one hand and pandemonium broke loose among the 36,683 patrons.” As Maz rounded second, fans were climbing over the railings, and as the hero rounded third, “the crowd poured down on him like a mob attacking a public enemy.”
After the game Mazeroski told reporters, “I thought it would go over. … I was hoping it would. But I was too happy to think. All year we’ve been a fighting, come-from-behind ballclub. We always felt we could pull it out — even after the Yankees tied it in the ninth — but I didn’t think I’d be the guy to do it.”
Following the World Series, Mazeroski resumed turning heads with his glove more than his bat, winning six more Gold Gloves through 1967. He became an elder statesman for a new generation of Pirates sluggers, including Willie Stargell, Bob Robertson, and Richie Hebner. He was a part-time player on the Pirates’ next championship team in 1971.
In retirement, he turned to coaching but found the job not to his liking. However, he continued to return to the Pirates’ spring training each year as an instructor, teaching players the nuances of playing second base.
After Mazeroski was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2001, a street outside PNC Park was renamed for him. The team retired his number in 1987, and in 2010 a statue of him was placed outside the ballpark. The 12-foot-tall statue depicts Mazeroski rounding second, batting helmet raised high in his right hand, after he hit his most memorable home run. It was unveiled on September 5, Mazeroski’s 74th birthday.
For more than four decades, every year on October 13, baseball fans gather at the site of Forbes Field in Pittsburgh to celebrate Mazeroski’s iconic home run. The unique annual event has grown to include hundreds of people, listening to a broadcast of that World Series Game Seven and celebrating one of the great moments in the history of baseball.
Photo credits: SABR-Rucker Archive
Read more:
- Read Bill Mazeroski’s SABR biography, by Bob Hurte
- October 13, 1960: Bill Mazeroski’s heroic homer brings World Series championship to Pittsburgh, by Mike Huber
- The Annual Forbes Field Celebration: Pirates Fans Relive Mazeroski’s Moment, by Richard J. Puerzer
- View Bill Mazeroski’s 1954 player survey in the Weiss Baseball Questionnaires collection
- September 14, 1958: Mazeroski breaks team home run mark; Friend wins 21st as Pirates double their pleasure over Cubs, by Larry DeFillipo
Originally published: February 23, 2026. Last Updated: February 23, 2026.