Remembering Mazeroski's Home Run More Than Just Annual Tradition For Some
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Oct. 13, 1960: Bill Mazeroski launches the greatest home run in baseball history, as the Pirates beat the Yankees to win the World Series.
Every year at this time, fans gather at what remains of the old Forbes Field wall, and listen to the radio broadcast of that historic game.
Herb Soltman and the Game Seven Gang have teamed up with the Pittsburgh Parks Conservancy to keep this tradition alive.
"As soon as he hit the home run," Soltman recalls, "I ran down an aisle, jumped over the railing onto the field, and made a left turn for home plate, which was sheer bedlam."
It's a moment etched in the memory of every fan who witnessed it.
"I lived in Oakland," says Don Urso, "but I remember watching it on a 19-inch Philco television set, up by Pitt Stadium, where we lived."
The fact that he wasn't born yet doesn't keep Dan Schultz from savoring the experience.
"I was born in 1964, but I've been a Pirate fan since I was a little boy," he says. "And when I saw this article in the newspaper, it caught my interest, and I started coming down in 1990-91."
Irene Abel met her future husband in the downtown celebration that followed.
"That was the day we met," she says. "Oct. 13, 1960. And then we got engaged Oct. 13, 1961."
"If he didn't hit that home run, I wouldn't be here today," she said.
"Nor would I," her daughter adds. "We're brother and sister, born 13 months apart, and if it wasn't for Maz, my parents wouldn't have met."
"Back to the wall goes Berra," cries radio annuncer Chuck Thompson. "It is over the fence, home run! The Pirates win it!"
The gang at the wall cheers once again, re-living a moment that never grows old.
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