20th Century In American Sports

"Don't put that tag on the poor fellow. He's young and he'll grow out of it."

"That Coatesǃ How can he give Mazeroski a fastball waist-high with the count, two strikes and no balls?."

"Wouldn't it be something if the Pirates did to the Yanks what the Yanks did to them in 1927—sweep them in four games?"

"I think it was just sheer guts against power, and the guts came through."

"This'll probably be Yogi's last year behind the plate.."

"Dale was part of Mr. Rickey's great experiment. Trying to make a catcher, a left-handed catcher at that, out of him. It set him back four years."

"Groat didn't make up his mind soon enough to try for third.... I'm glad Dick won the batting championship. Not only because he's such a great guy, but because it would have been unfair if Norm Larker had beaten him out. After all, the Dodgers only used Larker against right-handed pitchers."

"More power to Richardson. Records are made to be broken and I think the little guy is making one helluva showing. But I'm really surprised at the way the Pirates are pitching him. They're keeping the ball up on him and in Chicago we never pitch him high. That homer he hit with the bases full in the third game was on a high fast ball that was in on him. And both those triples he hit yesterday were on high fast balls. We keep the ball down on him and away."

"Kluszewski pointed out that the surprising New York Yankee second baseman has been "the most natural hitter," as far as swinging at the ball is concerned, in the entire Series. "In a way that's not so hard to understand," Klu said. "The big names like Roger Maris, Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra and Bill Skowron get all the publicity and try their hardest to live up to it. But a little guy like Richardson, who hit only one homer all season, doesn't get much advance publicity and therefore is more likely to play his normal game.""

"The Pirates are a good pressure ball club themselves. All season long they had the ability to come from behind in the late innings and win games. I don't believe it will be any different in the Series."

"They talk about the break in the second game when Gil McDougald grabbed that drive by Bill Mazeroski in the fourth. Mazeroski shouldn't have been trying to pull the ball. The Yankee infield was playing back. They were going to concede the run from third. If Bill hits to the right side of the infield and if he's safe, the score is 3-2. If he's thrown out, it's still 3-2 and the man on second goes to third. There's still only one out. The Yank infield comes in and Bob Friend hits for himself. That was the play."

"The first time Mickey Mantle came up to bat right-handed in this Series I had a feeling that it was going to happen. I said to the man sitting next to me, "He's going to hit this one out of here." The Series was in its 14th inning at this point and about all Mantle had done was strike out and walk—but up until then he had been swinging lefty against right-handed pitching. Now there was a big, tall southpaw named Green out on the mound. Being a switch-hitter, Mickey was hitting from the other side of the plate. I've thought for a long time that he was a better right-handed hitter than a left-handed hitter, and he proved it here. You could tell it was gone as soon as he swung, even though he didn't quite get around on it. It went into the right field stands. This was during the 16-to-3 rout at Forbes Field when there was a parade of Pittsburgh pitchers. Next time up Mantle drew a right-hander and struck out. But the time after that a left-hander named Gibbon was pitching and I said, "Here it goes again." This one sailed over the wall in deep center field where no other right-hand hitter ever put one. They got out the tape measure and nobody talked about much else for a day or two. It was enough to make anybody wonder why Mantle ever bothers to hit left-handed. In the third game, at Yankee Stadium, he came up against Green again and hit another tape-measure job. I've never seen anybody sting a ball harder than Mantle can."

"Mickey Mantle led the awesome display of Yankee hitting with two home runs, one into the right field stands and the other over the vined wall in right center. Only three other hitters, all left-handed swatsmiths, ever put a ball out of Forbes Field at that point—Dale Long, Stan Musial and Duke Snider. Mantle, a switch-hitter, is the first to do it right-handed."

"One important factor most people overlook, including the Yankees, is that they didn't see the Pirates at their best. Even the Pittsburgh faithful will have to admit this. Here was a team hamstrung by injuries to key men such as Dick Groat, Don Hoak, Bob Skinner and Vernon Law. Groat was far from being at his best, especially in the field. Skinner was out of five games. Hoak and Law played on nerve alone. Aside from these handicaps, facts, not results, point out the Pirates did not play good ball. The Bucs' secondary pitching, with the exception of Face, was awful. Law and Haddix upheld the starters. Hoak, Mazeroski and Billy Virdon played brilliantly and until the final game, Danny Murtaugh didn't get much out of his catching or first base departments. We can see why the Yankees and experts didn't think much of the Bucs. They were somewhat hasty in their judgment, however, since they weren't seeing Groat, Skinner,Clemente, Friend and even the brilliant Hoak and Law at their best. Clemente hit for average but we've seen him better in the field. Friend, we know, is a far better pitcher. Those putting the knock on his Series performance should remember the Bucs never would have won the pennant without his 18 victories."

"Dick Groat on third base. Bob Clemente on first base. Two runs in, 7–6 New York. Two balls, two strikes...And Hal Smith hits a drive to deep left field...That ball is way back out there, going, going, gone!"

"There's a drive into deep left field, look out now… that ball is going, going gone! And the World Series is over! Mazeroski… hits it over the left field fence, and the Pirates win it 10–9 and win the World Series!"

"... a great play that will forever go insufficiently sung, because of what happened afterward and because it was a simple force at second. Indeed with the fleet Mantle barreling toward second on the pitch, Dick Groat's best play on Skowron's grounder into the hole was to first. Groat, however, after bobbling the ball slightly, looked to Mazeroski and rushed his throw, which went wide, surely wider than the compactly put-together Maz could stretch. But Maz, for whom second base is T.S. Eliot's "still point of the turning world," seemed to lay every fibre of his being end to end for an instant to snag Groat's throw and nip the sliding Mantle by a heartbeat. And then he jogged in toward the bottom of the ninth and immortality."

"On October 13, 1960, the New York Yankees faced the Pittsburgh Pirates in Game 7 of the World Series at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, a game that would be Casey Stengel’s last as Yankee manager. I did watch it on NBC, and while I would have loved to have been there in person, I was fortunate to have been hired by Bob Fishel, the Yankees public relations director, seven years later. Over the years I came to know many of the players in that game. So in some ways, I not only feel as though I was “there,” but I continue to believe it was the most talked about game of the twentieth century. It certainly was by those who played in it. There was so much to it."

"After Coates retired two batters, Roberto Clemente hit a bouncer to the right side and was safe at first, driving in a run. 7–6. For many years, Yankee players grumbled that Coates was late in covering first. But in 2010, a kinescope of the game was discovered in the archives of singer Bing Crosby, a part-owner of the Pirates. It was the first time players had seen this play in half a century, as the full play—including where the ball was hit—was not included in the World Series highlight film. The kinescope showed that the ball was hit closer to the second-base/pitcher’s mound side than many believed. Coates’s instinct to try to field the ball was correct. He was not guilty of being late covering first. The ball was just hit into a no-man’s land."

"Up came Yogi Berra, whose three-run homer in the sixth had given the Yankees a 5–4 lead. He hit a sharp one-hopper at Rocky Nelson, the first baseman. Nelson stepped on first—canceling the force out at second, and Mantle, momentarily frozen, turned and dove back into first. He was safe. If he was out—if Nelson had executed the unassisted double play—the World Series would have ended right there, the Pirates would have won 9–8, and Hal Smith’s eighth-inning home run would have been the big blow. But Mantle was safe and the game went on. For decades the play was hailed as brilliant. But the odds were, Mantle should have been out at first on such a play. The smarter play would have been to get into a rundown between first and second, increasing the chances of extending the inning. But the dive into first was instinctive; Mantle couldn't be sure whether Nelson caught the ball on a fly or on a bounce. Nelson wore his glove on his right hand—farther away from the sliding Mantle than it would have been had he been right-handed. It was a panicked choice for Mantle and it worked out. Then again, why didn’t Nelson begin the play by throwing to second, for a more routine double play possibility? Or why, after recording the out at first, did he not throw home, seeing McDougald headed that way. He went for Mantle who was right in front of him. And it didn’t work out."

"FIRST INNING: YANKS—Friend threw out Boyer. Kubek rolled out, Mazeroskl to Stuart. Maris flied to Virdon. No runs, no hits, no errors, none left. PIRATES—Virdon lined a single to center. Right-hander Bob Turley started to warm up for the Yankees. Groat rapped into a double play, Richardson to Kubek to Skowron. Clemente brought a roar from the crowd with a long foul into the right field stands that narrowly missed being a home run. Clemente singled sharply between first and second Into right field. Stuart struck out. No runs, two hits, no errors, one left."

"Roberto Clemente says he's tired and is down to 165 from his customary weight of 185."

"For the second year in a row, the words to the national anthem were fouled up by a professional singer as the Series began. Billy Eckstine changed a word, making it "...bright stripes and bright stars." Last year in Comiskey Park, Nat Cole sang "O'er the land and o'er the sea.""

"Mickey Mantle would have been the goat in a 9 to 8 Pirate victory over New York yesterday in the final game of the World Series except for his fortunate slide back to first base. That was the last play Mantle should have attempted, according to baseball critics, after Rocky Nelson had fielded Yogi Berra's sharp grounder and stepped on first to retire Berra for the second Yankee out in the ninth inning. On the subsequent attempt to tag Mantle in his return to first base (to which he was entitled only because Berra had been retired), Gil McDougald, running for Dale Long, scored from third base. If Mantle had been tagged for the third and final out before McDougald touched home plate, the run would not have counted. Pittsburgh would have won, 9-8. [...] A run cannot score on a double play involving one or more force outs. A run can score between a second and third out if a force play is not involved, provided the runner reaches the plate before the third out. Because of this rule, Mantle made a mistake. So did Nelson, when he stepped on first base to retire Berra and thus removed the force on a possible double play. Each player undoubtedly acted instinctively. Nelson could have taken many seconds to complete a double play via second base (a force on Mantle) and McDougald could not have scored. Mantle could have created a sure tie by backing away from Nelson or heading for second base to delay any possible third out."

"In many respects, this rather prosaic ball game followed the normal patterns of the two ball clubs. The Pirates, pesky as always in piecing together runs, did everything the hard way in collecting four of their six runs. Two crossed unexpectedly when Bill Mazeroski lined a two-run homer over the scoreboard, a minor infringement on the Yankee patent. But the Bombers demonstrated that they still were the copyright owners by getting three of their four tallies by the into-the-grandstand method. The one department in which there was no letdown was in master-minding. Casey Stengel was thinking early and often. He never gave Cletis Boyer a chance to bat but used a pinch-hitter, Dale Long, for him as early as the second inning. That didn't work, though. Nothing worked."

"Charles Dillon Stengel, the renowned hocus-pocus artist, pulled the wrong rabbit out of the hat yesterday. All week long he had been giving with the Mumbo Jumbo as he muttered his baffling incantations in the dugout. He never identified him by name, of course, but he kept mumbling about Bill Stafford, the 23-year-old rookie pitcher who joined the Yankees after midseason. "I ain't afraid to start that kid," he said over and over in more disjointed style than usual. "Green pea. Keeps the ball low. Don't get scared. Good fast ball. Keeps the ball low. Cool customer which I ain't afraid to start but we'll see which way the thing rolls." Stengel sounded suspiciously like a man trying to convince himself. In that he failed. After hesitating between the novice, Stafford, and Art Ditmar, an old hand at World Series play, the Ol' Perfessor ceremoniously selected Ditmar to pitch the fifth game. Before he could yank Ditmar and produce Stafford, the game was lost."

"Wiry Harvey Haddix pitched superlatively well for six and a third innings and held the straining Bombers to five hits before yielding his portfolio to ElRoy Face, who gave none at all the rest of the way. Yet any reader of omens could have foreseen that Haddix would be troublesome. Eddie Lopat was the last of the Yankee batting-practice pitchers, and he had the regulars growling angrily at him. "What go they want?" said Heady Eddie with a satisfied smile as he left the hill. "I just gave them a dose of the same sliders and curves they'll see when Haddix gets out here. This was once when practice didn't make perfect. The Yanks couldn't hit Haddix either."

"Tony Kubek is the Yankees' regular shortstop but he's a better left fielder than either Bob Cerv or Hector Lopez and the word is that Kubek may be playing left field toward the end of any game in which New York has a lead to protect. Stengel used Kubek in left field last Sunday, something he had not done all year."

"It was 1927 in reverse when the Pirates and Yankees took batting practice yesterday at Forbes Field. Dick Stuart's bombs were falling all over Schenley Plaza, behind the left-field wall. The Yankees had been batting for 20 minutes before anybody hit one out of the park. There's a legend that in 1927 the Yankees shell-shocked the Pirates with their batting-practice home runs. It's a fact that they won the Series in four games. Whether the home runs they hit in batting practice made any difference is open to question."

"The unsung star of the Series? That phrase could well apply to Roberto Clemente, the Pittsburgh right fielder with the rifle arm. [...] Scores of reporters surrounded pitchers ElRoy Face and Harvey Haddix, s well as shortstop and Captain Dick Groat and Manager Danny Murtaugh. Off to one side Clemente sat in front of his locker, alone. Yet here was the player whose bullet throwing arm had stopped the Yankees from taking an extra base on hits to his territory, a feat that contributed mightily to Pittsburgh's three victories. [...] Clemente put the fear into Yankee base runners in the very first Series game in Pittsburgh. In the second inning after Yogi Berra and Moose Skowron had singled with none out, he gathered in pinch hitter Dale Long's fly and just missed doubling Berra at second with a rifle peg. [...] In Sunday's fourth game his arm again played a vital role as the Bucs squared the series. In the seventh inning of Monday's game, fear of Clemente's arm played a key role in balking the Yankees. With one down Tony Kubek singled to right, but Kubek, after rounding the bag, hustled back to second [sic—see comment #2 below]. Had he been on third when McDougald forced Lopez, he would have scored. That would have made it 4-3 Pittsburgh and who knows what would have happened after that?"

"There goes Stengel, putting on his usual show. He'll be out there 100 times this afternoon."

"It's a dilly, all right. The ball really spins around that curve, like a pill on a roulette wheel. You can't charge 'em, or they'll get past you for a home run."

"Sure, I expect trouble. Look at that sun. How can I say I don't expect trouble? I'll tell you one thing, though. It might be an experience. I know there's a good chance I'll be lousy, but the funny thing is, I'm looking forward to it."

"Can't beat the Bucs, can you? No sir, can't beat the bad Buccos, I'll tell you that. That's for sure. Yessir! Yessir! We got 'em, we got 'em. They broke all the records, but we won the game. How about that? Can't beat that."

"They've been knocking me down all season in the National League and I've still gotten my share of base hits."

"I heard him yelling too and reached up to catch it when he bumped into me. He cut my foot a little, but I told him you can cut me like that all the time if you catch the ball."

"With lineup they have, they should have won pennant in August."

"He pitches with his head, too. He mixes up his stuff—two speeds of curve ball, a slider and then whoosh, the fast ball. He's tough."

"We no good when first come home off road. All time during regular season we lose first game after come back to Forbes Field. Same thing happen now. But we get hot in second game now we back—just wait and see. We go out with fire."

"These are the best fans anywhere. They make all of this worthwhile. They are the reason I'm glad we won the World Series. They're the ones who deserve this championship."

"Every time a man steps to the plate, I consider him to be potentially dangerous. But I'm convinced I'm going to get him out. As for the Yankees, they don't worry me at all—Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, or any of them—because I know they put their pants on one leg at a time, like the rest of us. We've got some powerful hitting teams in the National League, Milwaukee and San Francisco, for instance, and Cincinnati. I don't think the Yanks are any more dangerous."

"They had a tunnel back to the clubhouse, and I took off and got into the champagne. I didn't even see him cross home plate."

"Fans will see two opposite types in managing in Danny Murtaugh and Casey Stengel. Murtaugh goes with his regulars as far as possible. He might pinch-hit for them late in a game but very, very seldom. Danny figures if a man is good enough to play regularly, he's good enough to hit. And don't think this doesn't build up the confidence of a player. Murtaugh plays good, sound baseball according to the book. From what I've heard of Stengel, he may pinch-hit as early as the second inning. Casey also shifts players frequently but his methods have worked. Who can argue with success?"

"Everybody said the same thing, and Maz would be the first one to admit it. We all said, "Get off the wall! Get off the wall!" Maz was running as hard as he could run to get that extra base."

"I guess the Western Union telegram boys will be busy carrying me telegrams until game time today. In New York, after we'd been shellacked by the Yanks, I got about 100 telegrams. About 75 of them told me what a lousy club we were and that we had no business playing in a World Series. When we won the next two games, the telegrams stopped pouring in. The only thing I can conclude from this is that people who own stock in Western Union ought to be rooting for the Yanks to pin our ears back again today. But if it comes down to that, my advice to them consists of one word: Sell."

"I wasn't too worried at the start when Bob Cerv singled and Tony Kubek doubled. I knew I was in trouble, but felt that if I could get Roger Maris out, we'd walk Mickey Mantle and then try for the double play. And that's exactly how it worked out—Don Hoak took Yogi Berra's grounder and started the double play. Both Cerv and Kubek hit my best pitches, too. Cerv hit a ball in on him and Kubek hit a low, outside pitch into left field. But after the first inning, I made a change on Kubek. He had been batting .500 with seven hits and our "book" on him was to keep the ball outside and low. I decided to pitch him inside and he didn't get a ball out of the infield after that."

"We didn't have time to go to church before the game but Mrs. Law and I prayed in our room. We prayed that no one on either side would get hurt and that everyone would would do as well as they possibly could. We didn't pray for victory because that would be a selfish prayer."

"Bill Skowron impressed me as the best Yankee hitter in the Series and he hit that home run off me yesterday in the fifth inning on actually a waste pitch. I tried to waste a side-arm fast ball by throwing it a foot outside but it nicked the corner and Skowron hit it into the right-field seats."

"I had the utmost confidence in the Pirates all the way because I knew we were the better team. I thought the Yankees were playing over their heads. I didn't think they were that good."

"To name names for the unfortunate horseplay really has no purpose at this time. I suppose many were to blame and not just one person. The person who twisted my foot has had enough disappointments in his own life. All of us were a close-knit bunch of players, and I believe all the players would lose a great deal of respect for me if this person was named. The players involved literally picked me up and tried ripping my shirt off, but because I resisted so, it might have been my fault as well. , our TV and radio announcer, probably was more of an instigator than anyone, as he was in front of me, leading the pack on. There were about five or six of them, and it could have been any of them. Certainly Bob could have stopped the whole thing if he wanted to. There never were any hard feelings toward anyone for putting me through three years of misery. The important thing is, I was able to continue my career. I loved what I was doing and I wanted to go out of the game on my own terms."