1960 WS Game 7: Pittsburgh Pirates vs. NY Yankees (insane last 3 innings + reactions)

Background:

Usually the doormats of the National League, the Pittsburgh Pirates shocked the baseball world by somehow winning the pennant over perennial contenders Dodgers, Giants, Braves and Cardinals with no "stars" other than Roberto Clemente. Waiting for them in the World Series were AL perennial champs and powerhouse, NY Yankees, led by veteran stars Mantle, Maris, Whitey Ford and Yogi Berra.

The series was tied 3-3 -- with the Bombers strafing Pirate pitching for 38 runs in their three of their wins , while the Pirates won their games in fairly closes contests.





The Scenario:

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One of the greatest WS games of all time -- even if it weren't a Game 7. This video is the latter part of the game, beginning in the top of the 7th inning.

In a see-saw battle New York had overcome an early 4-0 deficit to go ahead 5-4. Most of the scoring occurred in the last 2 innings, with Yogi Berra, ever the clutch performer, bashing a LATE & CLOSE 3-run dinger to give the Yanks the late lead and cushion.

This was broadcast on the MLB Channel in 2010 --The footage was "lost" to the public for 50 years!

Someone found it among the personal archives of the legendary singer, Bing Crosby. Bing was a part owner of the Pirates and he hired someone to shoot a 'kinescope' film of this game while he was in France. He reportedly was too nervous to watch the game in person, so he had a film made of it for him to watch later. No official videotape was made of this game although it was televised, so the public had never seen this game since it was played in 1960. It was debuted in public before a live audience in Pittsburgh in 2010.

Bob Costas hosted this showing and on the 'panel' with him on stage were 3 of the players in this game: Bobby Richardson of the Yanks and Dick Groat and Bill Virdon of the champion Pirates.

Besides Mazeroski's historic series-ending HR, the game features an unusual play (at 58:50) that I've never seen before in all my years of watching baseball.

(HEADS UP: If you don't want to know beforehand what happened and just want to watch the final 3 innings as they develop, SKIP THE 9th INNING ACCOUNT BELOW.)

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The Fateful 9th Inning:


In the top of the 9th, the Yankees rallied to tie the score at 9-9 after Pittsburgh had gone ahead 9-7. The game-tying play occurred with runners on 1st and 3rd with 1 out and Yogi Berra at the plate. He hit a hard smash to first which was snagged by the First Baseman, Rocky Nelson, right after it hit the ground. The runner on first, Mickey Mantle, evidently thought the ball was caught on the fly and he dove back to first to avoid being doubled up. In fielding the ball, Nelson's momentum carried him right towards the bag, which he tagged to record the out on Berra. Mantle somehow avoided Nelson's attempt to tag him out getting back and he made it back to 1B safely. On the play, the runner on 3B, Gil McDougald, scored the tying run. The play is unusual because the ball was a fielder's choice ground ball where the batter was out at 1B but the runner on 1B neither was out nor advanced to 2B. Never seen anything like it.


Mazeroski's HR came on the 2nd pitch leading off the bottom of the 9th. Final score: 10-9. Another unusual aspect of the game is that there were no strikeouts at all. This series was also very unusual in that Pittsburgh was outscored by the Yanks 55-27, yet won the series. Still another unusual aspect: Bobby Richardson was the series MVP, I believe the only time a WS MVP was selected from the losing team.

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Mickey Mantle -- who was also a one-man wrecking crew in this series -- was so distraught he was said to be in tears in the locker room.

BOX SCORE TOTALS

Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E

Pittsburgh Pirates 5 5 1 3 3 1 0 5 4 --- 27 60 4



New York Yankees 7 2 8 7 3 13 6 4 5 --- 55 91 8



Total Attendance: 349,813 Average Attendance: 49,973

Winning Player's Share: – $8,418 Losing Player's Share – $5,125