Bill Mazeroski

Lore & Background

Mazeroski was born in Wheeling, West Virginia, to Mayme and Louis Mazeroski who lived in nearby Witch Hazel, Ohio. The Mazeroskis are Polish American. Louis Mazeroski had been a highly regarded baseball prospect—he once had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians—but a severed foot suffered in a coal mine accident ruined his dream as well as his livelihood. Along with his parents and sister Mary, Bill Mazeroski grew up in a small one-room house that was devoid of electricity and indoor plumbing. He often went by the name of Catfish because of a penchant for fishing, which he took up out of necessity. Louis Mazeroski became prone to alcohol, but he did not want his son to follow him to the coal mines. The two played catch and talked ball regularly. As family legend had it, Bill's father purchased his glove with the pay from digging out an outhouse. Their favorite drill involved Louis bouncing a tennis ball against a brick wall for Bill to field. The exercise was designed to sharpen hand-eye coordination and ability to quickly adjust to bad bounces, areas in which Bill excelled as early as elementary school. As a child, Bill was a fan of the Cleveland Indians and counted Lou Boudreau, Bob Feller, Ken Keltner, and Joe Gordon as being among his heroes. Bill Mazeroski attended Warren Consolidated High School in Tiltonsville, Ohio, where he was a multi-sports star, most notably in baseball and basketball. He was a four-year starter with the varsity baseball team, normally as a shortstop or pitcher. In his senior year, he was named Class A 2nd team All-Ohio in basketball. Mazeroski turned down college scholarship offers from Duquesne University, Ohio State and West Virginia to pursue a professional baseball career. In 1954, after several major league teams had courted the infielder, the Indians, Boston Red Sox, Chicago White Sox, and Philadelphia Phillies among them, the 17-year-old finally chose the Pirates, largely because they agreed to accelerate his start in Class-A ball unlike the others. In July 1957, Mazeroski enlisted with fellow player Buddy Pritchard in the U.S. Army Reserve, serving in the 773rd Artillery Battalion.

In Their Own Story

The September night air at Forbes Field was thick with smoke from the cigarette stands and the low hum of ten thousand voices. The scoreboard glowed amber: Yankees 9, Pirates 8. Bottom of the ninth. The crowd had been on its feet for what felt like an eternity, the tension a physical weight pressing against the ribs. Whitey Ford, the Yankees' lefty, wound up and delivered. Mazeroski, the switch-hitter, had already taken the first pitch. He watched it sail by. Then the next one came in, a fastball on the outside corner, and Mazeroski's bat snapped through the zone with a sound like a crack of thunder. The ball rose over the left-field seats, over the railing, into the dark Pittsburgh sky. For a heartbeat, the stadium went silent. Then the roar hit like a wave, shattering every window in the press box. Mazeroski rounded the bases slowly, the crowd chanting his name, the confetti already falling. He pointed to the sky, then to the stands, then to the Pirates dugout. Pittsburgh had its champion. It would never forget.

Reader's Guide

Success at the pro level did not come easily for Mazeroski at the outset. In 1955, the 17-year-old made his debut with the Class A Williamsport Grays, where he hit .235 in 93 games. He played exclusively at shortstop, where he was charged with 31 errors. The next spring, Pirates general manager Branch Rickey noticed how well he turned the double play as a second baseman, which prompted his move to the right side of the diamond. Mazeroski moved up to the Triple A Hollywood Stars farm club to begin the 1955 season. While he played 20 error-less games at his new position, the two-level jump proved to be too much at the plate. He was sent back to Williamsport, where he got back on track with a .293 batting average and 11 homers in 114 games. Mazeroski returned to the Hollywood Stars at the outset of the 1956 campaign, only this time things were noticeably different. He hit .306 with an .823 OPS (on-base plus slugging) to earn a promotion to the major leagues midway through the season. At a time when the vast majority of young athletes were required to hone their skills in the minors for several years, Mazeroski got the call at 19 years of age. As expected, the transition was not a seamless one. He made his first major league appearance on July 7, 1956, against the New York Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York. His first hit was a single off Johnny Antonelli in his first at bat. But for most of the next five weeks, his batting average tumbled below the .200 mark. He hit his first home run on August 16, a 2-run shot off Robin Roberts, but a few days later, Pirates manager Bobby Bragan dropped him behind the pitcher in the batting order for 10 games. Mazeroski regrouped to hit .243 in 81 games, but later said that the drop in the lineup hurt his confidence. After Danny Murtaugh replaced Bragan at the helm in early August 1957, Mazeroski and the Pirates showed immediate and steady improvement. In its 1958 preseason analysis, Sports Illustrated reported that he was seen as potentially 'the finest young infielder in the business.' In 1958, the young Bucs promptly stunned the baseball world with a second-place finish, while Mazeroski blossomed into an All-Star for the first time in his career. His 19 home runs and 69 RBI each ranked second at his position in the major leagues. He also was selected for his first Gold Glove Award. His father Louis died of lung cancer e

Did You Know?

• Mazeroski's 1,706 career double plays remain a major league record for a second baseman.
• He led the National League in double plays for eight consecutive years.
• His 161 double plays in 1966 remain the major league record for second basemen.
• Mazeroski led the major leagues in assists a record nine times.
• He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001.