Hey Bucs fans / baseball historians...ever heard of this?

[AstroEric]

From another message board, a poster named "Bob Balk" wrote:

Oct. 13 is the anniversary of the Pirates' 10-9 victory over the Yankees at Forbes Field in game 7 of the 1960 World Series, thanks to Bill Mazeroski's HR in the bottom of the 9th inning.

This victory meant more to Pirate fans than anybody realizes, & still does today. The Pirates hadn't won a championship in 35 years, & in the interim Pittsburgh fans had no professional sports championships to celebrate. During that same period, as you know, the Yankees had won approximately half of the World Series that were played. Heading into game 7, the Yanks had won their 3 games by scores of 16-3, 12-0, & 10-0, shattering many Series offensive records. The Pirates had won their 3 games by closer scores.

In game 7, NY took a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the 8th, when the Bucs stormed back thanks to a string of bizarre events, including Bill Virdon's bad-hop grounder that struck Tony Kubek in the throat, P Jim Coates failing to cover 1B on Roberto Clemente's grounder, & a 3-run homer by Hal Smith, a backup catcher who was playing only coz Smoky Burgess was pinch-run for earlier in the game. The Yankees tied it 9-9 in the 9th, thanks largely to the famous "Mantle play" at 1B, but Maz won it in the 9th & thus began the biggest party the city has ever known.

Each year on Oct. 13, about 300 fans gather at what remains of the Forbes Field outfield wall. At 1:00 PM, the same time that game 7 started, we begin playing a tape of the complete original radio broadcast of the game, announced by Chuck Thompson & Jack Quinlan. Fans cheer & groan at appropriate times. They bring baseball memorabilia, including actual game programs & seats from Forbes Field. They eat hot dogs & popcorn. Fans have come from as far away as Atlanta, Chicago, & Houston for this event.

The event is not advertised. There's no corporate sponsor or local radio station or anybody else showing up. The event is completely non-commercialized, the only truly pure event left in America today. No other individual game in any sport is commemorated in this fashion.

Maz himself joined us for the 40th anniversay celebration. One regular attendee is Bob Friend, a pitcher on that team; talk to him once & you'll see that he lives up to his surname. We've also been joined at different times by ElRoy Face, former broadcaster Nellie King, the late Nellie Briles, & Ron Necciai (the only man to record 27 K's in a professional game).

This sounds like a ton of fun! Anyone been there?

--Eric