Bill Mazeroski Baseball Article
Honors and Remembrances
Mazeroski was elected into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2001. Reading his prepared speech, he only got as far as thanking the Veterans Committee voters for choosing a player based largely on defensive skills (a rarity in the Hall), before becoming so emotional and teary-eyed that he had to stop, apologizing to those who \"had to come all the way up here to hear this crap!\" He then sat down, while the audience and his fellow Hall-of-Famers stood and gave Maz a loud and long ovation.
Today, a portion of the brick left field wall from Forbes Field remains standing, along with a marker where the sudden-victory homer cleared the wall, as a historical monument on the University of Pittsburgh campus in Pittsburgh\'s Oakland District. Also, there is a softball diamond behind the wall, called Bill Mazeroski Field.
Warren Consolidated High School has since joined other schools to form Buckeye Local High School in Rayland, Ohio. Buckeye Local honored him in 2003 naming their new baseball field after him and placing a monument behind home plate, near the road.
In 2004, the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference honored Mazeroski by selecting him to the first class of honorees in the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference Hall of Fame. Mazeroski was introduced by veteran sports writer Rick DeLuca, a 1970 graduate of Maz\'s Warren Consolidated High School. Maz was inducted with a group that included former Boston Celtics great John Havilcek and former Olympic wrestler Bobby Douglas.
Mazeroski received a standing ovation on July 10, 2006 as he threw out the first pitch of the Home Run Derby that preceded the MLB All-Star game at PNC Park in Pittsburgh.
Film Cameo
In a staged cameo appearance in the movie version of The Odd Couple, Mazeroski hit into a game-ending triple play at Shea Stadium, which sportswriter Oscar Madison was unable to watch, being distracted by an annoying phone call from Felix Ungar (ironically, right after sarcastically predicting to Heywood Hale Broun that the Mets still had a chance to win, that Maz might hit into a triple play). In reality, according to the Society for American Baseball Research, Mazeroski never hit into a triple play in his career, but was part of two triple plays as a fielder (in 1966 and 1968).
The IMDB site for Mazeroski features this anecdote. The scene was actually filmed just prior to the start of a regular game at Shea on June 27, 1967 (as per another IMDB reference[1]), and Maz reported that he was given only 10 minutes to get it done:
They had a guy out there pitching and he was throwing fastballs. I knew I had to hit a line drive to the third baseman. It only took two takes. The first pitch, I hit a line drive that went just foul. The second one, I hit a one-hopper right to third. He caught it, stepped on third, threw to second, threw to first, a triple play. Now that took talent!
Present Day
Bill serves as special infield instructor for the Pirates in spring training and is retired in Panama City, FL. He is also in a commercial for FSN Pittsburgh featuring former Pirates first baseman Sean Casey.
