1960 World Series Game 7

Lore & Background

Despite losing the series, the Yankees scored 55 runs, the most runs scored by any one team in World Series history, and more than twice as many as the Pirates, who scored 27. The Yankees won three blowouts (16–3, 10–0, and 12–0), while the Pirates won four close games (6–4, 3–2, 5–2, and 10–9) to win the series. The Pirates' run differential of minus 28 is the lowest ever by any team, winner or loser, in a World Series. The Series MVP was Bobby Richardson of the Yankees, the only time in history that the award has been given to a member of the losing team, though the rules were different at this time. Votes had to be in by the start of the 8th inning of Game 7, at which point the Yankees were in the lead, and this was the first time since the series MVP award was created in 1955 that the team leading at that point did not go on to win. Richardson was also the first non-pitcher to be named MVP.

In Their Own Story

The air in Pittsburgh hung heavy with humidity and history. On the mound stood Ralph Terry, exhausted after a complete-game effort earlier in the series, facing the quiet grit of Bill Mazeroski. Then came the crack of the bat. The ball climbed high over the left-field fence—a solitary white arc against the twilight sky that would define a decade for two franchises. In an instant, the deafening roar of the home crowd swallowed the stunned silence of the New York dugout. The Yankees had not just lost a game; they had surrendered the series in the most brutal fashion imaginable.

Reader's Guide

In Game 7, Bill Mazeroski hit the series winning ninth-inning home run, the first time a winner-take-all World Series game ended with a home run, and the first World Series to end on a home run. Mazeroski's home run gave the Pirates their third title overall and their first since 1925.

Did You Know?

• The Yankees scored 55 runs, the most by any team in World Series history.
• The Pirates' run differential of minus 28 is the lowest ever by any team in a World Series.
• Bobby Richardson was the only player from the losing team to win World Series MVP.
• Bill Mazeroski's home run was the first to end a winner-take-all World Series game.