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1960 World Series Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to see photos in full size and to start Photo Gallery:
The Classic 1960 World Series
Now that we’re in full “World Series mode,” I’ll continue featuring some of the more memorable Fall Classics. It’s been a while since I talked about the 1960 World Series, so today I’ll revisit one of the most memorable of all — that is, if you’re a Pirates fan! — which included possibly the most dramatic walk-off home run in baseball history. It ranks right up there with Bobby Thomson’s blast in the 1951 playoffs.
The beautiful photo below shows Rocky Nelson’s first-inning home run in Game Seven, undoubtedly the highlight of his career. Roberto Clemente greets Rocky at the plate while Yankee catcher Johnny Blanchard and umpire Bill Jackowski look on.
Here are a few words about this great World Series along with a photo gallery above I put together. It includes some of our favorites.
The 1960 World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates (95-59 .617), managed by Danny Murtaugh, and Casey Stengel’s New York Yankees (97-57 .630) from October 5 to 13, 1960. It’s considered one of the most exciting World Series of all time, ending on Bill Mazeroski’s dramatic walk-off home run in Game Seven which gave the Pirates a 10-9 victory in the decisive game. It was the Pirates’ third World Championship overall and first since 1925. The Yankees were making their eighth appearance in the last ten years.
Five future Hall-of-Famers appeared in the series: Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, Whitey Ford, Yogi Berra, Mickey Mantle, Casey Stengel, plus umpire Nestor Chylack. Bobby Richardson was the MVP of the series.
The series also featured seven past, present, or future league Most Valuable Players: Dick Groat (1960), Roberto Clemente (1966), Yogi Berra (1951, 1954, 1955), Bobby Shantz (1952), Mickey Mantle (1956, 1957, 1962), Roger Maris (1960, 1961), and Elston Howard (1963).
The NBC television announcers for the Series were Bob Prince and Mel Allen the primary play-by-play voices for the Pirates and Yankees. Old-time Cub fans will be surprised to learn that Cubs’ announcer Jack Quinlan was at the radio mike.
How Did the Pirates Win This Series??
Looking over the statistics from the series, if you didn’t know better you’d guess that the Yankees had won. They outscored the Pirates 55–27, out-hit them 91–60, hit for a higher average .338-.256, blasted 10 home runs to the Pirate’s four (three of which came in Game Seven), and got two complete-game shutouts from Whitey Ford. And yet they lost the series! The Pirates’ inconsistent pitching and Stengel’s controversial decision not to start Ford in games one and four resulted in the peculiar combination of close games and routs.
The Historic Game Seven
Game Seven is one of the most memorable games in World Series history. The Pirates took an early 4-0 lead with Vernon Law on the mound. The Yankees came back and led 5-4 after six innings, then scored two more in the top of the eight to make it 7-4.
In the Pirates’ eighth, singles by Gino Cimoli, Bill Virdon (a sharp grounder that struck Tony Kubek in the throat), and Dick Groat cut the lead to 7-5. An infield hit by Roberto Clemente scored Virdon and advanced Groat to third making it 7-6. With two runners on, Hal Smith then sent shock waves through Forbes Field by blasting a homer over the left-field wall. The Pirates now led 9-7 after eight innings.
Bob Friend came on in the ninth to protect the lead. After singles by Bobby Richardson and pinch-hitter Dale Long, Pirates manager, Danny Murtaugh lifted Friend and brought in veteran Harvey Haddix. With one out, Haddix gave up a single to Mantle that scored Richardson and moved Long to third. Yogi Berra followed with a short grounder to first. Rocky Nelson stepped on the bag for the second out which was followed by a key base path move by Mantle:
Mantle, seeing he had no chance to beat a play at second, scurried back to first and avoided Nelson’s tag which would have been the third out as McDougald raced home to tie the score, 9-9. The Yankees were still alive. (1)
Ralph Terry, who had gotten the final out in the Pirates’ eighth, returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. The first man he faced was Bill Mazeroski. With a count of one ball and no strikes, the Pirates’ second baseman smashed his dramatic drive over the wall in left ending the game and the series.
As the Pirates erupted in a wild celebration, the Yankees stood in disbelief knowing that they had clearly dominated the series but had somehow managed to lose. Years later, Mickey Mantle was quoted as saying that losing the 1960 series was the biggest disappointment of his career. For Bill Mazeroski, it was undoubtedly the highlight.
What an ending to what has become a classic World Series!
One side note: A few years ago, I interviewed the kid on the right in the Maz photo above. His name is Ken Simons. You can read the interview here.
Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: All from public domain through a Google search.
Information: Quote (1) from the 1960 Baseball Almanac page. Also, excerpts edited from the 1960 World Series Wikipedia page. Statistics from Baseball-Reference.com
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Hi Gary , hope you a Nancy are well , enjoy your trip to AZ next week , enjoy those 6 beautiful grandkids of ours . What a great article and pictures of the 60’s series , I have a good friend who has his dads filled in program scorecard from the day with the Maz’s home run not filled in due to the bedlam that followed the celebration. Thanks for the great memories!!! Love the interview with the boy running with Maz .
Thanks Vince…glad you liked it…always great to hear from you!
I remember listen to the game in High school and then on the way home, being a lifelong Yankee fan
what a heart breaker it was when Mazeroski homered in the bottom of the ninth
And the coach beside Maz is veteran baseball personage Frank Oceak.
I remember walking home from school with a coupla of my Little League buddies, listening {with a little transistor radio stuck in my ear}, to the final few innings of that game 7. Luckily, we didn’t miss hearing the classic Hal Smith blast and the Mazeroski tater. {We all grimaced in unison when Kubek took that bad hop to the face.} After beating out my defending AL champion WSox for the AL pennant in ’60, I was hoping for the Yankees to lose to Pittsburgh. Interesting how fans were able to run on the field with apparently little consequence in those days. {Cool post about the young boy, Mr. Simons}. Even 15 years later, there was a rush onto the field after Carlton Fisk’s 1975 Game 6 HR, which would NEVER be allowed to happen in today’s game. Question for you Gary……in one of the photos, it says that Dick Groat was the ’60 WS MVP, while later, in the script, it says that Bobby Richardson was the MVP. ?? Maybe Richardson was the ’62 WS MVP perhaps ? Did each team have a WS MVP recipient back in the day ? Once again, BHCA is hittin’ 1.000 with this article. Thnx.
Thanks Tom…interesting comments as always! Dick Groat was the NL MVP in 1960 while Richardson was the 1960 WS MVP. I clarified that in the Groat photo caption. What’s interesting is that Richardson is the only WS MVP from a losing team!
The biggest drawback of being born in 1960 was hearing about Mazeroski’s home run throughout childhood, without any context in which to place it. I grew up thinking Mazeroski was a tremendous offensive force and always feared when he came to the plate against my team (the Mets).
Although Mazeroski had several years of double-digit homers, there weren’t many. When Al Weis homered in the 1969 WorldSeries, I knew it was an aberration, but it still took me a couple of years to realize Mazeroski was “Al Weis on steroids.”
Defense aside, if Mazeroski doesn’t hit that homerun, he couldn’t get into the Hall of Fame with a ticket. That summarizes why baseball is a fantastic game. The emotion produced by Mazeroski’s homer at the moment it happened will always be evident to anyone watching the footage.
Another great article giving readers a front row seat to a very memorable game. The photos are priceless. That was a great era for baseball.
Thanks Sue…great to hear from you!
A few years ago I read a biography of Robert Clemente that pointed out he always refused to wear his World Series ring from 1960 because he felt he should have been named series MVP. Clemente was apparently a very sensitive and easily offended man.
Thanks Gary, quite a WS! Clemente got nine hits and drove in three runs in the ’60 classic.
Mantle also said, “That was the only year the best team did not win.”
Mazeroski in the Hall based on of his famous homer is a travesty. He was a wonderful fielder but his 17-year career OPS+ of 84, is 16% below the average player! In NO year did he even reach the average of 100.
Conversely, also a travesty in my book, is the blatant omission of Keith Hernandez. By the eye test and definitive metrics, Keith was the greatest fielding first baseman of all-time. The numbers show he buried Gil Hodges, who I thought was terrific around the bag.
Hernandes lead the league in BA, walks, doubles, runs scored twice, OBP-and was an MVP. His average year was: 13 HR, 84 RBI, .296 BA. And these numbers are diminished by crippling injuries his last four years. He was a great clutch hitter with an OPS+ of 128, only two points below Roberto Clemente.
There ain’t no justice!
Herr Schaefer,
Bill, I agree with your Mazeroski comment re: his HOF induction. True, he was a terrific fielder {used a tiny “Little Leaguer sized” glove}, but a singular, iconic walk-off Game 7 WS HR shouldn’t warrant entry to Cooperstown. Yes, Hernandez was a great player {probably had HOF-worthy numbers}, but his link to cocaine use probably tainted his consideration among the BBWAA voters. However, it’s alleged that during the time of his admitted drug use, probably 1/3 of the players were also using drugs or steroids, but some of them still eventually received HOF induction. Orlando Cepeda, Tim Raines, and David Ortiz come to mind.
Good point, Tom, on the Hernandes/cocaine link. It certainly didn’t help him.
After WW2, Dexedrine (“Greenies”) was the go-to drug for extra energy, prevalent for
decades before steroids.
I was 9yrs old. I watched Maz hit the HR on tv then ran outside and began dancing around, throwing my baseball glove in the air as our town’s (Homer City, Pa.) fire siren roared in celebration!
Talking about the 1960 World Series and Bill Mazerowski’s 9th inning walk off homerun to win the series lends itself to a great baseball trivia question.
Who was the only player to play on a losing team in a WORLD SERIES and be selected as the series Most Valuable Player?
1960 World Series MVP- Bobby Richardson Yankee’s 2nd baseman, now that’s quite an achievement that’s never been duplicated. Go Bobby!
My dad, miraculously,got me out of Jr High and we sat above the Pirates bullpen in Right Field and 150 ft from my baseball hero, Roberto Clemente. Best baseball game I ever saw.. NY Yankees had way more talent ,but the Bucs refused to go quietly into the goodnight and would not quit and would not say “,Die.” When my dad was dying of a cancerous brain tumor ,at Montefiore Hospital ,we talked of Mazoroski’s homer in the ninth and how it took 30 min. to get out of Forbes Field and the Oakland area of Pittsburgh. Dad had a good laugh in the morning and evening which made us both happier ,even though dad knew he had less than 4 months to live. Never ever saw him in bed for over one to two who days because he was always active and happy.
Thanks Jeff- Glad the essay helped remind you of fond times you spent with your dad. To me, that’s what baseball is all about.
Just catching up as my Internet was out for over a week. If Maz belongs in the Hall so does Richardson. Two interesting facts about the 1960 Series and 1960 All-Star game. In the seventh game of the Series no batter struck out. I believe that is the only Series game with no strikeouts. And both strikeout leaders from each league were on the teams, Mantle and Dick Stuart. As for the All-Star game Pirate pitcher Vernon Law is the only pitcher to both win and save an All-Star game in the same year! Lastly, I think the biggest mistake Stengel made in game 7 was not bringing in fireballer Ryne Duren. Duren was the premier relief strikeout artist of his day.
Very interesting…thanks.