20th Century In American Sports

"I was very nervous at the start of the game but after the first out, I was normal again. I was rounding first base when I saw the ball disappear over the scoreboard in the fourth inning and I was as happy as a fellow can get. This was a dream come true."

"That homer was one I'll always remember. The only one comparable was one off Taylor Phillips of the Cubs. That broke the home run record for a Pittsburgh second baseman. A small thrill compared to today's."

"Dad would have loved it—I only wish he could have been here today. Dad always wanted to play big league baseball. He was considered a great prospect. Once he was ready to sign with the Cleveland Indians and then he had a foot cut off in a mine accident. From then on, all his hopes and ambitions were wrapped up in me, because I was an only son. Dad had to work hard in the mines, but whenever he could he always would try to catch me in a ball game or two. Then a year and a half ago he died of lung cancer."

"You keep it. The memory's good enough for me."

"When I walked up to the plate, all I thought about was getting on base. But deep in my mind, I just knew we were going to lose. I thought, "Well, you can't feel too bad taking the Yankees into the seventh game of the World Series and losing in extra innings.""

"I was almost at second base when it finally went over. I was running so hard, just trying to make sure I'd get to third. Then it took moment or two to realize what happened. It was gone. You know, all I could think about was, "We beat the Yankeesǃ We beat themǃ We beat the damn Yankeesǃ""

"I get people coming up to me and talking about that home run all of the time. But you know, for once I'd like someone to say, "You were a damn good defensive second baseman. You were one of the best I ever saw." To tell you the truth, that's what I'm most proud of, that I could turn the double play as well as anyone who ever played the game. But no one remembers that. No one cares. It's kind of funny, isn't it? Thirty years later and people are still talking bout it. Who would have ever figured?"

"It hasn't been said very often, but I think it was one of the greatest games ever played in a World Series, especially a Game 7."

"There was so much going on after the game, so many people outside. We had a hard time getting to our car. Everybody wanted to buy you a drink. They were patting you on the back. We finally made it to our car, and we were wore out. We got in the car and took off for somewhere quiet. We went up into Squirrel Hill and sat on a Schenley Park bench and there wasn't a soul up there. Nobody. Except for a few squirrels running around. We sat there for about an hour and just relaxed. I wasn't thinking about the home run. It was, "We beat them. We beat the Yankees." The only thing I could think of after I hit second base was, "We beat them, we beat the Yankees, the great Yankees.""

"So I just walked to the plate, tryin' to hit the ball hard somewhere. I was always a high fastball hitter, and the first pitch that went by was probably a little too high. The second pitch he got down a little bit, and I hit it. And I knew when I hit it that Yogi Berra was in left field, that he wasn't gonna catch it. I knew I hit it good enough, hard enough... 'Cause it was 410 feet out there, and you probably had to hit it about 425 to get it over the big fence out there. So I knew he wasn't gonna catch it, and I was runnin' my butt off. And if he had misplayed it off the wall, I wanted to be on third base for a triple; there's a lot of ways to score from third base than there are from second. But by the time I was going into second, the roar of the crowd and the umpire down the left field line, give it his stuff... Then I hit second base, and I don't believe I touched the ground the rest of the way."

"Forget about the final score. If that ball had gone through, the score would have been tied, Bob Friend would have stayed in, and it would have been a different ball game. The Yankees wouldn't have scored any sixteen runs off of Bob, you can bet on that. I thought he was pretty sharp, as far as he went."

"I've seen every ball that has been hit over the center-field wall in Forbes Field. Mickey's, I'd have to say, was the most convincing."

"So far as I know they haven't changed the World Series rules. This thing still goes to the team that wins four games and not to the club that makes the most records."

"I got to my knees and backhanded it. I came up to throw to second to start a double play. But Groat had come in behind the pitcher's mound in preparation to take a throw from right field; he was on the grass instead of at second. He'd figured the ball had gone by me. So there's no one covering second. I cranked my arm twice, I was told, and then turned and stepped on the bag for a force out on Berra. But Mantle dove back into the bag and beat my tag at him. Yogi said I robbed him of a double. Mantle said he saw me catch the ball, and thought I caught it on the fly. Mantle might have been the goat if Skowron had followed with a single. Because if Mantle had gone to second he would have gotten there safely, and he would have scored on a single. Mantle wasn't more than an arm's length off the bag. Stuart said I should've gotten Mantle at first base. He told me if he'd have been at first base, the ballgame would've been over, and Maz wouldn't even have had to bat. That's the way Stuart was. He could give it and he could take it. But Murtaugh said I was the only one who could have caught the ball. I took one step off the bag with Yogi up; I couldn't take two steps off. The ball went over the bag and was in foul territory when I grabbed it. It was just one of the sequences in that game that stand out. It was probably the greatest game ever played in the seventh game of a World Series. It went back and forth. You couldn't ask for better drama."

"I was really disappointed, especially because I got hurt on a dumb baserunning mistake. I was on second base and a ball was hit to short and I took off for third. You're not supposed to go unless the ball is hit behind you between first and second base. I shouldn't have run; it was a real bonehead play. I was just so excited. The ball was hit to Kubek and he threw to third to get me. I dove into third, a headfirst slide, and my thumb just caught under the bag, and was bent back to my wrist. It really hurt. I told Murtaugh I had to play in the last game, though, if we were gonna win. I told him that. "I'll help this team win," I said. And I did. I had a sacrifice and I did some things that helped us. I only played seven innings in the field because my thumb hurt so much."

"They won the laughers. The easy games went to the Yankees. But when it came down to the clutch you know who was there. This was our kind of game. It was the first time in the Series we had a chance to show them our finishing kick. That's the way we won it all year and today we put it on again."