After a good, long life, Maz is gone. After years of cellar dwelling and general organizational ineptitude, the Pittsburgh Pirates showed some life in 1956. It was not an organization that could, like the Yankees of those days or the Dodgers of these days, spend themselves into championship contention. They had to be smart, know their baseball, and find good players.

The Brooklyn Dodgers had Duke Snider and Carl Furillo in their outfield, but they had gotten sloppy about protecting a valuable Puerto Rican investment named Roberto Clemente who suddenly appeared in the Pirates’ lineup as their right fielder in 1955. He would remain there through 1972 in a legendary Hall of Fame career that ended with his death in a horrible plane crash when he was heroically helping earthquake victims in Nicaragua on New Year’s Eve. Suddenly Pittsburgh had a semblance of defense to help their promising young pitching staff including Vernon Law and Bob Friend. Then, in’56, the Pirates added a 19 year old rookie named Bill Mazeroski and their infield was much more serious as well. No one has ever made double plays as well or as frequently as number 9, Mazeroski, and he also would remain through 1972, winning eight Gold Gloves and hitting with occasional power. Shrewd general manager Joel L. Brown added a brilliant center fielder acquired from St. Louis, Bill Virdon and the Pirates began winning respect. Gone were the days of statues in the outfield like Ralph Kiner, Preston Ward, and Jerry Lynch.

I will always remember delivering a Sunday edition of the Pittsburgh Press that showed the ’56 Pirates suddenly in first place with a record of 29 wins and 20 losses, best in the National League. How could this be? Only two years earlier, Pittsburgh had finished dead last, winning 53 out of 154 games, eleven games behind the seventh place Chicago Cubs. Behind brash manager Bobby Bragan the Pirates were getting interesting but they fell out of contention soon enough. Bragan over used his best pitchers and the roster was still a bit thin despite the addition of young talent. They ended up trading places with the Cubs. 1957 was Mazeroski’s first full season and he did well, batting .283 and impressing the league with his glove work.

The Mlwaukee Braves were the big story in baseball that season, though, winning the World Series over the Yankees with the power of Henry Aaron, Eddie Mathews and Wes Covington along with their big three starting pitchers Warren Spahn, Lew Burdette, and Bob Buhl. The Pirates became serious contenders in 1958, finishing 8 games behind Milwaukee for second place with their own big three starters in Bob Friend, Vern Law and Ron Kline and Roy Face in the bullpen. Mazeroski won his first Gold Glove and batted .275 with 19 home runs at age 21. Even though the Pirates solidified the roster even more by by trading with Cincinnati for Don Hoak and Smoky Burgess they finished fourth with a 78-76 record in 1959. But the following year was the one they had waited over two decades for.

They held a rather comfortable lead over the aging Braves all season and won the National League pennant by seven games. The usual New York arrogance made the Yankees a strong favorite to win the World Series. The series, however, went to a fateful seventh game. After blowing an early 4-0 lead the Pirates entered the bottom of the ninth inning at old Forbes Field tied 9-9. Maz was the first batter and he delivered the winning blow and Yogi Berra watched it fly over the left field wall and the Pirates were champs. It was Mazeroski’s eighth hit of the series, second only for the team to Clemente’s nine, and his second homer.

Eleven years later, at age 34, Maz played in another World Series. This time it was against another heavily favored team, the Baltimore Orioles. That Baltimore team featured Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Don Buford and four 20 game winners on the pitching staff—Mike Cuellar, Jim Palmer, Dave McNally, and Pat Dobson. Dave Cash had become the Pirates’ regular second baseman that year and Maz was limited to a single pinch hit appearance. He and Clemente were the only remaining from the 1960 winners. Clemente was the Series MVP as Pittsburgh again won the seventh game, this time on the road.

So the passing at 89 years old of a real icon to Pirates fans and fans of great defense leaves us with great memories. Seven times Maz was an All-Star. Two World Championships. 1,076 double plays, including 161 in 162 games in 1966. The kid from Wheeling, West Virginia was damned good.