William Stanley Mazeroski is a Hall of Famer - finally.
Mazeroski, the author of one of major league history’s most famous home runs as well as the standard by which all second baseman are measured defensively, was elected to the Hall of Fame on March 6 by the Veterans Committee.
For the 64-year-old, it was a perfect afternoon – utopia for a day, if you will.
After enduring year after year of unrecognized greatness, the Pittsburgh Pirate great won’t have to watch the Hall of Fame induction on television or listen to it on the radio this summer.
After missing election last year by one vote, he joined Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett and former Negro League pitcher Hilton Smith in the Baseball Hall of Fame class of 2001. Mazeroski will stand on that Cooperstown podium and finally have the opportunity to give his Hall of Fame speech during the Induction ceremonies, held August 5 at Cooperstown, N.Y.
"I'm pretty happy," said Mazeroski, on hand at the site of the committee's meeting in Tampa, Fla. "I don't really know what to say. I never, ever expected to be here. You dream of a lot of things. You want to be in the big leagues. You want to make the All-Star Game. You want to be in a World Series. You want to do all those things, but you never dream of this. It's pretty exciting. I just hope I can live up to it."
As in past seasons, Mazeroski was serving as the Pirates’ infield instructor during spring drills at McKechnie Field in Bradenton, Fla., an hour’s drive from the committee’s site. But this time, he received the pleasant phone call from committee chairman Joe Brown, and drove to Tampa with his wife Milene.
"He's so deserving," said Brown, who served as Mazeroski’s general manager with the Pirates. "In my personal opinion, he should have been elected the first time he was eligible. He's the best second baseman of all time. I don't think anybody came close. I've seen second basemen all the way back to the early '30s and, defensively, I know of no one who is his equal."
Mazeroski, who spends six months a year working in Panama City, Fla. with his son, the head baseball coach at Gulf Coast Community College, doesn’t expect a big transformation in his life.
"(Getting in the Hall) won't change me. It might make my life a little more hectic."
Mazeroski wasn’t just the greatest defensive second baseman, but arguably the best fielder of all time. The Baseball Writers' Association of America, which failed to elect Mazeroski from 1978-92, decided that his .260 lifetime batting average outweighed his unmatched fielding excellence. The Veterans Committee thought otherwise.
Mazeroski’s case is perhaps viewed as a controversial one, with writers fearing it might open the door for players who excelled in just one facet of the game. But Pirate outfielder Ralph Kiner is in. He played 10 years, hit 369 home runs and did little else. It’s no secret Kiner couldn’t field, hit for average, throw or run.
Alas, voters seem to have a different criteria for fielders, probably because fielding is normally a forgotten art by those who vote for the Hall of Fame. Defense, of course, is a vital part of the game. But to some voters, defense is not as “sexy” as the almighty home run or the almighty strikeout.
One man who doesn’t need convincing on the importance of defense is Brooks Robinson, whose 16 straight Gold Gloves at third base netted him induction into the Hall of Fame in 1983.
“I think in every sport, everyone focuses too much on offense. Basketball and football (are examples). It’s too bad, but that’s the way it is,” Robinson told me in an exclusive interview. “Defense has been overlooked for so long. I think people are starting to recognize defense a little more than in the past.”
Mazeroski was to fielding what Babe Ruth, Ted Williams, Hank Aaron and Ty Cobb were to hitting and what Walter Johnson, Christy Mathewson, Grover Alexander and Tom Seaver were to pitching.
“And he was just as good as (there ever was) playing second base,” Robinson added.”
Total Baseball rates Mazeroski as the best defensive player of all time based on numerous categories and equations, including the amount of runs a player prevented. Despite his mundane batting average, 136 home runs and 853 RBI over a 17-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, Total Baseball ranks him as the 75th-best player of all time. That’s saying something.
And since 253 men have been inducted into the Hall of Fame, it’s safe to say Mazeroski was well overdue by those standards.
Mazeroski, who had 2,106 hits, never batted higher than .283, never hit more than 19 homers or drove home more than 82 runs or scored more than 71 times or stole more than four bases in any one season; yet he was selected as an All-Star on seven occasions. There was a reason.
His defense was that amazing. Just ask Hall of Fame teammate Willie Stargell.
“He may have never driven in 100 runs in a season, but I’ll tell you what. He saved about 200 runs every year,” said Stargell, who played with Mazeroski for 11 years from 1962-72.
Mazeroski, who perfected the pivot on the double play, still holds the major league career record for most double plays turned (1,706) by a second baseman – unbelievably, only three first basemen had participated in more double plays when he retired. And his superb single-season mark of 161 twin-killings in 1966 remains the standard.
Besides leading the league in chances per game 10 times, “Maz” also led all second baseman in assists nine times and double plays on eight occasions – both records. Mazeroski turned the pivot so quickly he earned the nickname “No Touch” for a release so quick it seemed he never touched the ball.
Broadcaster Joe Garagiola once said of Mazeroski, “Instant replay was no match for the blinding speed of a Mazeroski 6-4-3”.
"It was something I enjoyed doing, something I prided myself in," Mazeroski added. "Personally, I don't think defense gets its proper due."
The field magician also won eight Gold Gloves, a number eclipsed by only Ryne Sandberg at second base. All these feats are even more astounding considering he played half his games on Forbes Field’s infield dirt, one of the worst this century. Routine grounders were adventures on that hard infield, where infielders were actually taught to expect bad hops. No wonder why nary a no-hitter was ever thrown at Forbes Field during its 61 years as home of the Pirates.
Renowned baseball historian Bill James points out that Mazeroski led the league in 35 positive defensive categories, including range factor 10 times, putouts five times and fielding average three times.
“Bill Mazeroski’s defensive statistics are probably the most impressive of any player at any position,” said James. “Many of the assists, of course, stemmed from his wondrous pivot on the double play, the like of which no one living player has ever seen.”
The Hall of Fame lists as its criteria for election the player/manager/executive’s “record, ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contribution to the game”.
Mazeroski didn’t lack in any of those areas. And if the pivot and double plays were not enough of a contribution to the game, perhaps hitting the most famous home run in World Series history will do.
Defining irony, this defensive stalwart named Mazeroski walked up to the plate unaware he was about to make history with his bat. Leading off the bottom of the ninth inning in the deciding game of the 1960 World Series, Mazeroski snapped a 9-9 tie by belting reliever Ralph Terry’s second pitch for a line drive that sailed over left fielder Yogi Berra and the fence behind him. The stunned New York Yankees watched in disbelief as Mazeroski jubilantly rounded the bases to complete one of the greatest upsets in the annals of the fall classic.
"I don't really think of it unless somebody talks about it, and hardly a day goes by when somebody doesn't talk about it," Mazeroski said. "The New York people are still mad at me."
Mazeroski deserved his election, especially given the career batting averages of the following defensively sound Hall of Famers: Robinson (.267), Ray Schalk (.253), Luis Aparicio (.262), Joe Tinker (.263) and Johnny Evers (.270).
The election made sense, especially with certain Hall of Famer Ozzie Smith (.261, 13 Gold Gloves) eligible next January.
Mazeroski’s election was overdue. In this era of home runs, it’s to be expected. Perhaps, Mazeroski’s election will alert Hall of Fame voters on the importance of defense, and make that aspect a larger ingredient in future elections.
» Mike Attiyeh is a published baseball historian whose works have appeared in such publications as Baseball Digest, Pirate Report, Society for American Baseball Research, Birch Brook Press, and numerous web sites. Attiyeh, who has appeared as an expert guest analyst on sports radio talk shows throughout the United States, is best known nationally for breaking the story of Tony Gwynn’s blood clot in 1997.
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Copyright © 2001 by Mike Attiyeh. Posted July 20, 2001.
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