1960 World Series

"Not only did that ball take a bad hop, but I was in the right position only because Casey moved me back two steps just one pitch before. If I had been up two steps, I wouldn't have got it, and the Pirates would have either scored or had the bases loaded with nobody out. I didn't allow enough for that fast infield. It's a good thing he moved me. You can't tell what would have happened then. It might have been a different ball game."

"Casey, I'll tell you; he always bragged about me at third base. We had that little spat there in the 1960 World Series when he took me out for a pinch hitter in the second inning of the first game, but with Casey it was nothing personal. It was like whipping one of your kids. The next day you still love him."

"I made only seventeen pitches and I felt fine. I wanted them to hit grounders. They did, but don't tell me they're that good that they can hit them where nobody is all the time. I'm ready to pitch again tomorrow, but I guess Casey has a different idea."

"If they hit in the holes, there's nothing you can do about it. The guy that hit the ball the hardest was the only out I got. Skinner swung and missed on two low pitches and he just chopped at the one he hit. It came off the infield like a shot."

"This is the most disappointing defeat we ever had. Look at Stengel over there. Imagine how bad he feels. Look at him talking and holding back the tears."

"He stayed so far away from the plate. I have a little sinking fastball that would go away from him. I thought I could throw it on the outside corner and he wouldn’t be able to reach it, but he knew exactly what he was doing up there. He would just move in toward the plate as you were releasing the ball – he could reach over and hit it to right field with almost as much power as to left field."

"Whitey Ford, who pitched against him twice in that Series, recalls that Roberto Clemente actually made himself look bad on an outside pitch to encourage Whitey to come in with it again. "I did," recalls Whitey, "and he unloaded.""

"Only time I was ever mad at Casey in my life. I couldn't figure it out. Sure, I missed some time during the season with a sore arm, but I had gotten back for a few games and I was all right. I was used to pitching every fifth day, but I could have pitched the first, fourth and seventh games in the Series. It wasn't as if Forbes Field had a short left field like Fenway Park or Ebbets Field."

"They won. That's what counts. It's something we still think about once in a while. And it happened 32 years ago. There's no getting around it. They played good baseball when they had to, and when the chips were down. Hal Smith hit the home run and, of course, Mazeroski hit the home run. When they had to perform, they did. So you can't take anything away from them. They had a fine ball club. Gino Cimoli said it best. He summed up the whole Series when he said, "The Yankees set all the records and we won the Series." That says it right in a nutshell. We did everything right except win the World Series. And that's what I mean. When the chips were down, they came through. They didn't let that 16-to-1 setback bother them. Most clubs would have folded up and said, "Let's just get this thing over with and go fishing." But, no, they didn't. They hung real tough every day. You can't beat that, and we didn't."

"Yes, that was the most disappointing thing that ever happened to me; and, you know, I played in five World Series with Mickey Mantle, and we lost three of them and won two of them. After that Pittsburgh World Series was the time Mickey cried. He sat in his locker and the big tears were coming down his cheeks. I know just what he was going through. There were several of us who weren't feeling too good at the time. For me to see that, coming from a man like that, that meant a lot to me. He was hurt by that World Series there. He just shook his head. He didn't say anything derogatory toward the Pirates. It was just that we should have won that World Series. That's what he felt badly about. We all did. It was a downer."

"I'm going to invest most of it in stocks and bonds. I'll take the rest and take my wife on a Caribbean vacation."

"Mayo Smith had scouted the Pirates, and warned us about Groat. So if Virdon got on, Bobby Richardson and I were not supposed to cover the base, but were supposed to hold our positions."

"It was a terrible infield. It was like the beach at Normandy, half sand, half pebbles, and they never dragged it."

"We were so much the better team than they were. Anyone who doubts who was the best team doesn't know anything about baseball."

"He told me one time he got up six or seven different times in the bullpen. He was a starting pitcher and didn't know how to warm up so he threw hard every time he did. Jim Turner, our bullpen coach, said Ralph was tired by the time he got into the game."

"The irony about it is that people compare our '61 team to the '27 Yankees as being the best of all the time. But to tell you the truth, that '60 team was the best I ever played on. I know Pittsburgh won it, but I'd think they'd be the first to say they (beat) the better team."

"Maybe we lost, but I was on the better team this time."

"The best team lost. Imagine Hal Smith hitting a homer."

"That's the way they played all yearǃ I don't care, they still aren't the best club. They all ought to start going to church. That shows you that damned Face can get hit like the rest of them. That————immortal."

"What go they want? I just gave them a dose of the same sliders and curves they'll see when Haddix gets out here."

"There is no substitute for experience and stuff, and Ditmar had both. But he didn't have any luck, just like in the game at Forbes Field."

"I was sure scared after that first strikeout, especially after getting struck out twice in the first game. I thought it would be another of those games where I'd strike out four times. I'm the man to do it. I was talking to myself. [...] They don't mean a thing to me, really. What's the good of homers in the middle of a game when you get 16 runs? I've hit homers in Series games that won them. Then they mean something. Now they don't."

"I feel better than I have in years—no leg problems at all. But if I'm to get three more home runs, I'm afraid I'll have to get them right-handed. I don't know what's the matter. I've lost my confidence from that side. I've always been a better right-handed hitter than left, but it wasn't until recently that I really got into a left-handed slump. I just don't seem able to pull the trigger, hitting left-handed. I have no excuse for it. It's not my legs or anything. The ball just gets up to me before I know it."

"Hell, it's true, isn't it? If you don't want to be quoted on that, he can quote me."

"That's the worst thing about it. We hit so much better, but we lost anyhow. This is a lot better club than they are."

"But we lost. That's all that counts. I never thought we would. We had it won, too. We got nobody to blame but ourselves. Years from now, all they'll know is that we lost."

"Well, a lot of stories have been written about that play. Actually, I don't know why I did that. Tony Kubek said it was the dumbest play he ever saw."

"I have always said this and I never second-guessed Casey in my life, but I believe the whole Series revolved around that decision."

"Playing in the World Series is what I've wanted most of all ever since I became professional ball player. It's funny. When the Athletics traded me to the Yankees last winter, my first feeling was that of regret. No kidding, it was. My home is near Kansas City and I was able to spend a lot of time with the family while the A's were in town. That meant a lot to me. Raytown, Mo., my home, was only about 20 minutes from the ball park. But soon I realized what playing in New York could mean. There was a real shot at the World Series, something that has always been important to me. I had come up to the Cleveland Indians in 1957 and for a while, early in the season, they were given a chance to win the pennant. But they couldn't keep it going. Then, in mid-season of 1958, the Indians traded me to the Athletics and the World Series seemed a long way off. And now I'm a Yankee and this is a great uniform. I've never been this close to the World Series. There isn't a happier or prouder guy. I consider myself a very 'lucky' boy."

"The Pirates should never beat our club. I think if we played this team all season we'd beat them real bad. They were real lucky. I think it is impossible to get any more breaks than they had in this Series."

"That's the luckiest team I ever saw. They hit the two home runs, but those two grounders... one hits Tony in the neck and that miserable one Clemente hit. That Law was throwing 'at 'em' balls. Every line drive we hit, a little man was there to catch it. He better be a minister with all the luck he had."

"Tony made a perfect throw and I should have had Smoky Burgess out at third. It should have been easy, but in my anxiety to make the tag, I neglected to wait until I had the ball. When I did catch it, I failed to hold it. I have no excuse. It was my error."

"I guess you'd like me to tell you why I did so well in the World Series. I guess you'd like an explanation. It was the power of prayer. When I stepped into the batter's box in the World Series, thousands of people were praying for me and wishing me well. I like to think this is one of the reasons I do so well in World Series play. I like to think it is the fundamental reason."

"Well, you visited with Tony this weekend and I called him, we talked on the phone. And he said that Mickey called him in the hospital right about the time he went to see him, just to check on him. And Tony asked him about the play and he said, "I just froze." He said, "I just didn't know what to do." But his instincts, as you mentioned, kicked in and he made that wonderful dive back in. The proper thing would be to get half way and give the third base runner time to score. But Mickey just froze...but he made that great slide, and the tag was not there."

"We gave 'em a little thrill. We hit a home run off each of their best pitchers, and the Pittsburgh club found out we was still around in the ninth inning. We ain't squealin' and cryin'. I thought our infield played as well as theirs, and you'd have to say our hittin' was fairly good out there. In fact we outhit 'em. Now when you come right down to what beat us, I'll say that man [Bill Virdon] made a helluva catch off Yogi Berra. Things would have been a lot different without it."

"Richardson didn't make the right play, but he got the man, and it did do one thing: showed us that Skinner can run. Where was the man [Clemente] who hit the ball? He's the fastest man, ain't he? Now if that play had decided the game, they'd all be asking why he didn't go to second. And if I was the manager I wouldn't have an answer."

"I am more amazed about that fellah every day. You seen that one he hit over the center field fence today. You've seen some of the left-handed shots he has made in Yankee Stadium. Now I tell you what amazes me so much; that fellah does it on one leg. You noticed how that right knee is always wrapped. He plays on one leg. Only one leg, yet you've seen he plays in all the games, and even the doubleheaders. Some times this year I knew the leg was bothering him but I kept him in and he'd get the big hit to win for us. Maybe in the seventh, maybe in the eighth, maybe in the ninth. But he'd get it. You seen Mantle's two right-handed homers today. For maybe the first three years he's with the club everyone told me I was silly to let him hit right-handed. Well, I been called silly about lots of things but I guess I'm not silly bout Mantle hitting right-handed, huh?"

"Berra could last five more years hitting in this park."

"Well, tomorrow will be it and you are a very nice gentleman whether you win, lose or draw."

"Now I tell these fellers (his pitchers) they can't pitch these other fellers (the Pirates) high but they do it so you have to say it was pitching that beat us. There ain't much you can do about those balls that nobody can field. They give Nelson that high ball and there it goes. Smith gets a high one and then them other fellers are back in the game and then we have to fight back to get even again. Then Mazeroski gets another high ball just like he did in the first game and that's all there is to it. Maybe it will be a lesson to them fellers."

"I don't know what pitch it was. All I know is, it was the wrong one."

"It was like a slow-pitch softball game. It all came down to who had the last ups."

"Everybody remembers I hadn't pitched since the fourth game. But people don't know I warmed up with Bill Stafford in the second, with Shantzie in the third, with Jim Coates in the eighth, before I replaced Coates. After the second warmup, I didn't have anything."

"I played golf professionally in South Africa and Europe a few years ago, and I stopped in Portugal for a pro-am tournament at a fancy club. My partner was a steel executive from England with three first initials like they have over there. The tournament was sponsored by a port manufacturer, so every few holes you'd stop and have a sip. After a few sips, he said to me, "I understand you played rounders back in the States." I said yes. He said, "I've seen only one game of rounders in my life. I was in Pittsburgh in 1960 and my hosts with U.S. Steel played 18 holes at Oakmont in the morning and then said we had to make haste because they had tickets for the final game of the World Series." Right then, I could see what was coming. He told me, "In the final chukker, this bloke from Pittsburgh hit the ball clear over a wall, and sheer pandemonium broke loose. We were lucky to escape with our lives." I looked at him and said, "You know, it's a funny thing, but I'm the bloke who served it up." He said, "What a coincidence. Let's have some more port.""

"I didn't have a thing left and I knew it. It's funny. I even started thinking, "Geez, why didn't Casey start Whitey Ford in Game 1? Then he could be pitching now. But we didn't have anyone. The whole staff was tired."

"To this day, it was the wildest celebration I've seen in my life. It was pandemonium. I sat in the clubhouse, feeling awful, and then I went into Casey's office. He had told us before the game that he'd probably never see us again. We knew they wanted him out, that they wanted to hire Ralph Houk before he got away. And that's why it hurt so much, knowing this would be the last game he'd ever manage for us. I walked in and said, "Case, I feel real bad. I let you down." He said, "Kid, what were you trying to throw there?" I told him I was trying to keep the ball down and away to him, but I just got it up. He said, "Good, because that's what you've managed to do there. You followed my report, it just didn't work out. I'll sleep good tonight. Now, you forget it." I often wonder what would have happened to my career without Casey. If he had started screaming at me, blaming me for everything, who knows what would have happened?"

"Fred Green nearly choked on his chaw when Mantle hit a line shot into the right field stands. Clem Labine, who told me while he was warming up that he had his good sinker, didn't have good control of his curve ball and served up a couple of fruitful line drives. The phone in the bullpen rang as desperately as if a bunch of people were reporting a fire. Three pale, young Pirate pitchers warmed up nervously. One was so nervous that he kept dropping the ball when the catcher threw it back. A laugher is not a pitcher's best introduction to a World Series, but eventually they all had to go face the hilarious Yankees. When the Yankee run total had passed 15, the phone stopped ringing. All that was left in the Pirate bullpen were two catchers, slumped over and too tired to talk."

"Yankee Stadium was the scene of the second laugher, and it might not have taken place if New York's Bobby Richardson had followed the book on himself. The book said "no power," but when Labine threw him a high, inside pitch with the count at three and two, Bobby refused to accept it as the fourth ball it was and powered it into the seats. That got the bullpen parade going again, and the pale Pirate threesome, blooded veterans by now, were prodded in their heating up when a shot from Mantle arced out 420 feet and bounced into their midst. This time, they did better, but it was too late. In a laugher it always is. Toward the middle of the game a lady Pirate fan wearing a "Beat "Em Bucs" ribbon on her hat started rooting for Whitey Ford, who, with a 10-run lead, didn't need the encouragement. The good-humored complacency of Yankee fans turned to restless indifference. The ball game was almost forgotten. Herbert Hoover got a big hand for walking through the stands, and when a foul ball dropped into the seats near Pandit Nehru, the fans rose to their feet for a better look. Many of them stayed up and went home. How long can anyone laugh?"

"Good thing for the Pirates Kubek's ball hit the bag; otherwise it would have gone for a double and there would have been two runs. That was a slow change-up Maris hit."

"Ditmar didn't have a thing on the ball, not a thing."