1960 World Series 7th game premiers in Pittsburgh
Half a century ago, the Pittsburgh Pirates locked horns with the New York Yankees for the World Series. The complete NBC telecast of game 7 was not available but after it was announced that the film was in effect claimed from Bing Crosby’s wine cellar, Major
League Baseball decided to declare their attention to air the telecast live on December, the 15th.
However, host Bob Costas found it only fitting to show the event in Pittsburgh only.
Eight players were called in to take part of the premier that pooled in 1000 people. The list included, Bob Oldis, Hal Smith, Joe Christopher, ElRoy Face, Bill Virdon, Bob Friend, Vernon Law, and d**k Groat.
d**k Groat was content with the finding of the strip film and thanked Bing. He said, "Thank God for Bing Crosby. It's going to be something special, especially with Bob Prince and Mel Allen doing all the commentary. That makes all the difference in the world,
because they were two of the greatest announcers ever".
Bill Mazeroski was one of the icons in his day but he was unable to attend the premier as the veteran Pirates man went into hospital, earlier this month with a kidney stones condition. Bob Friend spoke in his regard by saying, "I'm sorry he's not here. He's
been a great one. He would have enjoyed this very much".
Hal Smith’s homer had been forgotten by many due to what followed in the next innings. However, when the moment came when the hitter smashed his home run, the audience stood up to deliver applause to the top batter in the team.
Hal later said, "I had no idea what happened until I hit second base and saw fans jumping on the dugout. No matter what happened after that, I was just glad to help Pittsburgh".
Friend went on to say, "It was really something we all wanted to see. It's one of the greatest games ever played in the history of baseball".
The night was amazing for any former player reliving his memories. The fans would have been enjoying the game as much as they would have been engrossed in researching them. At the end of the day, the game epitomized the stories that any Pirates fan would
hear of the past glory that once stood as a testament to the might of Pittsburgh.
Tags: