Is there any “ordinary” player in the history of the game who became a legend overnight like Bill Mazeroski?
Any fan worth their salt knows that “Maz” hit the home run in the bottom of the ninth in Game Seven of the 1960 Fall Classic against the New York Yankees to give his Pittsburgh Pirates an unlikely world championship. It is till considered one of the game’s greatest moments.
Mazeroski died on February 20 at the age of 89. Here’s his obituary from The New York Times. (The tribute from the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette is behind a paywall.)
He spent his entire 17-year career as a Pirate, appearing in 2,163 games and batting .260 with 138 home runs and 853 RBI. Despite such relatively low numbers, Mazeroski was named to the Hall of Fame by the Veterans Committee in 2001, based 10 All-Star honors, eight Gold Glove Awards, and his leadership for the Pirates.
He was the topic of Twin Killing: The Bill Mazeroski Story, published in 1995 by John Bird.
UPDATE: It totally slipped my mind that Mazeroski was a long-time teammate (1956-1968) of ElRoy Face, who died Feb. 12 at the age of 97.