Bill Mazeroski

William Stanley Mazeroski was born on September 5, 1936, in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Louis and Mayme Mazeroski, who lived in nearby Witch Hazel, Ohio. The family was Polish American. Louis had been a highly regarded baseball prospect and once had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians, but a coal mine accident that severed his foot ended both his baseball hopes and his livelihood.

Bill grew up with his parents and his sister Mary in a small one-room house without electricity or indoor plumbing. He was nicknamed Catfish for his love of fishing, which he took up out of necessity. His father did not want him to follow him into the mines, and the two played catch and talked baseball constantly. A favourite drill had Louis bouncing a tennis ball off a brick wall for Bill to field, sharpening the hand-eye coordination and quick reactions that later defined his career. Family legend held that his father paid for his first glove with wages earned digging out an outhouse. As a boy Bill was a Cleveland Indians fan whose heroes included Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Ken Keltner and Joe Gordon. Louis Mazeroski died of lung cancer early in 1959.

Mazeroski attended Warren Consolidated High School in Tiltonsville, Ohio, where he was a multi-sport star. He was a four-year starter on the varsity baseball team, usually at shortstop or pitcher, and as a senior was named Class A second team All-Ohio in basketball.

He turned down college scholarship offers from Duquesne University, Ohio State and West Virginia to turn professional. Several clubs courted him, including the Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, but in 1954 the 17-year-old chose the Pittsburgh Pirates, largely because they agreed to start him in Class A ball. In July 1957 he enlisted with teammate Buddy Pritchard in the U.S. Army Reserve, serving in the 773rd Artillery Battalion.

Mazeroski debuted professionally with the Class A Williamsport Grays and struggled at shortstop before Pirates general manager Branch Rickey noticed how well he turned the double play and moved him to second base. After seasoning with Williamsport and the Triple A Hollywood Stars, he was called up to Pittsburgh and made his major league debut on July 7, 1956, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds, singling off Johnny Antonelli in his first at bat. He was 19.

Under manager Danny Murtaugh he blossomed. In 1958 he made his first All-Star team, hit 19 home runs and won his first Gold Glove. In 1960 the Pirates won their first pennant since 1927, with Mazeroski hitting .373 in a decisive August. In the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees he won Game 1 with a two-run homer off Jim Coates and Game 5 with a two-run double off Art Ditmar. In Game 7 at Forbes Field on October 13, 1960, with the score tied 9-9, he led off the bottom of the ninth and hit Ralph Terry's 1-0 pitch over the left field wall to win the championship. It was the first World Series to end on a home run and remains the only one decided by a walk-off home run in Game 7. He hit .320 in the Series and received the Babe Ruth Award, though Bobby Richardson of the Yankees was named Series MVP.

Defense was the core of his game. Broadcaster Bob Prince dubbed him "The Glove." He used a small, well-worn glove barely larger than his hand that allowed lightning transfers on the double play. In 1961 he set a National League record with 144 double plays, and in 1966 he turned 161, still the major league record for a second baseman. His 1,706 career double plays remain the major league record at the position. He led the league in double plays eight straight years and in assists a record nine times, and won eight Gold Gloves. He was also durable, starting at least 129 games every season from 1957 to 1968.

At the plate he hit 138 home runs and drove in 853 runs, the most by any second baseman between 1944 and 1974, despite playing home games in spacious Forbes Field. He collected his 2,000th hit on August 17, 1971. That October the Pirates beat the Baltimore Orioles in the 1971 World Series; he and Roberto Clemente were the only members of the 1960 champions still on the club. He retired after the 1972 season with 2,016 hits.

He coached third base for the Pirates in 1973 and for the Seattle Mariners in 1979 and 1980. Coaching did not suit him, but he returned to Pirates spring training for many years as an instructor teaching second base play. In 1987 he ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for Westmoreland County Commissioner in Pennsylvania.

Mazeroski met Milene Nicholson, born in Braddock, Pennsylvania, in 1938, while she was working as a secretary in the Pirates front office during his early playing days. They were married for about 64 years. The couple settled in Greensburg, Pennsylvania, and lived in the same house for almost 60 years. In 2019 they moved to Lansdale, Pennsylvania, to be closer to their grandchildren. Milene died on May 19, 2024, at age 85.

They had two sons. Darren Mazeroski, a former junior college baseball coach, later worked in the Pirates scouting department as an area supervisor. David Mazeroski is an atmospheric scientist. Bill and Milene had four grandchildren: Billy, Sara, Tommy and Jack. An annual Bill Mazeroski Golf Tournament funds a baseball scholarship for a senior at Buckeye Local High School in Ohio, near his old high school.

Mazeroski was famously modest about the home run that made him a legend. At the 2010 dedication of his statue he said he probably got too much credit and insisted the Pirates would have won that game whether he hit the home run or not. He gave the ball from the 1960 home run to the teenage fan who retrieved it, telling him the memory was good enough for him.

He believed defense deserved recognition. When he was elected to the Hall of Fame, the first point of his prepared speech was thanks to the Veterans Committee for choosing a player largely for his fielding. Pirates chairman Bob Nutting remembered him as "humble, gracious and proud to be a Pirate," and the Hall of Fame noted that he remained humble about his career even as he was celebrated in Cooperstown.

Mazeroski's Game 7 home run is often called the greatest home run in baseball history. ESPN ranked it first among the 100 greatest home runs of all time, The Sporting News placed it second among baseball's 25 greatest moments, and Sports Illustrated ranked it eighth among the 100 greatest moments in sports history. Every October 13, the "Game 7 Gang" gathers at the surviving section of the Forbes Field wall in Pittsburgh's Oakland neighbourhood to listen to the original radio broadcast at exactly 3:36 p.m.

As a fielder he set the standard for second basemen. Hall of Famer Joe Torre said he was the best he ever saw at turning a double play, and Willie Stargell said that "fielding his position, he was perfection." Modern defensive metrics credit him with the most Wins Above Replacement of any major league second baseman during the 1960s, and his election to Cooperstown helped strengthen the case for honouring defensive specialists. A statue outside PNC Park, at the end of Mazeroski Way, shows him rounding the bases with arms outstretched and cap in hand; he is one of only a handful of Pirates honoured with a statue.

Eight Gold Glove Awards (1958, 1960, 1961, 1963 to 1967). Selected to All-Star teams in seven seasons, ten All-Star Games in total. Two World Series championships (1960, 1971). Babe Ruth Award (1960). Inducted into the National Polish-American Sports Hall of Fame (1979). Uniform number 9 retired by the Pirates (1987). Elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee (2001). Baseball fields named for him at Harrison Central High School in Cadiz, Ohio, and Buckeye Local High School in Rayland, Ohio. Inaugural member of the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame (2004). Statue unveiled outside PNC Park (September 5, 2010). Inaugural member of the Pirates Hall of Fame (2022). He threw the ceremonial first pitch of the 2006 Home Run Derby at PNC Park.

Mazeroski made a cameo in the 1968 film The Odd Couple, hitting into a staged game-ending triple play while sportswriter Oscar Madison is distracted by a phone call from Felix Unger. The scene was reportedly filmed at Shea Stadium before a real Pirates and Mets game in June 1967, with Jack Fisher pitching; Mazeroski later joked that it took only two takes. In real life he never hit into a triple play, though he took part in two as a fielder, both against the Cincinnati Reds.

The radio call of his home run by NBC's Chuck Thompson and the television footage of him waving his cap as he rounds the bases are among the most replayed clips in baseball history. He appeared in a FSN Pittsburgh commercial with former Pirate Sean Casey, and his 2001 Hall of Fame speech, cut short by tears, became one of the most remembered moments in induction history.

The main debate around Mazeroski concerned his Hall of Fame credentials. He was eligible on the writers' ballot from 1978 to 1992 but never reached 50 percent of the vote. Critics pointed to his .299 on-base percentage, still the lowest of any non-pitcher in the Hall. Supporters argued his defense was historically great; columnist George Will wrote in 1995 that his exclusion was "a case of simple discrimination against defensive skills." The Veterans Committee elected him in 2001. No personal controversies are documented.

Mazeroski died on Friday, February 20, 2026, in Lansdale, Pennsylvania, at the age of 89. The Pirates announced his death the next day. No cause of death was made public. Find a Grave lists his burial at Saint Stanislaus Cemetery in Lansdale.

Pirates chairman Bob Nutting called him "one of a kind, a true Pirates legend," adding that his name would always be tied to the biggest home run in baseball history. Hall of Fame chairman Jane Forbes Clark said he would be remembered as one of baseball's most respected figures, for his character and for his brilliance on the field. Commissioner Rob Manfred said his lifetime of hard work and humility was a perfect illustration of the city he represented. He was remembered before the 2026 Hall of Fame induction ceremony alongside Ryne Sandberg and Bobby Cox. He was predeceased by his wife Milene in 2024 and is survived by his sons Darren and David and four grandchildren.