Argument for defense
Mazeroski waits for Hall to honor great glove men
Posted: Tuesday March 02, 1999 06:54 PM
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Mazeroski (left, with fellow coach Richie Hebner): "I'm really not disappointed. This was the first year I thought I had a shot, but I wasn't holding my breath." AP |
BRADENTON, Fla. (AP) -- Bill Mazeroski, arguably the best defensive
player in baseball history, still thinks there's just as much room for a
glove man in the Hall of Fame as there is for a big bat.
Just not this year.
Mazeroski, who played second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates
with as much skill and creativity as Ozzie Smith did shortstop for St.
Louis, said Tuesday he thinks the Hall of Fame will someday recognize
defense, too.
Mazeroski was seen as a leading candidate for Hall of Fame enshrinement,
but was passed over in Tuesday's Veterans Committee vote for Orlando
Cepeda, the power-hitting first baseman from Mazeroski's era known as the
Baby Bull.
Once again, just as it always seems to do in baseball's popularity
contests, offense won out over defense.
"Defense has not been recognized, but it is beginning to be recognized
now," said Mazeroski, won who eight Gold Gloves and turned more double
plays than any second baseman ever. "Finally, because of all the TV
coverage and [ESPN] SportsCenter, defense is getting some recognition."
Unfortunately for Mazeroski, he played from 1956-72 -- before most
televised games were recorded on videotape and defensive gems were a
fixture on the nightly sports highlight shows. Most of Mazeroski's great
defensive plays are preserved only in the memories of those who saw him
play.
And his biggest moment in baseball came at the plate -- his momentous
homer to beat the New
York Yankees in 1960, still the only home run to end a Game 7 of the
World Series.
Total Baseball, major league baseball's official encyclopedia, rates
Mazeroski as the 75th best player of all time. More than 150 players ranked
lower are in the Hall of Fame.
Was he as good defensively as Smith, the back-flipping Cardinals
shortstop who may be a first ballot Hall of Famer in 2002? Or former
Baltimore third baseman Brooks Robinson, who single-handedly decided the
1970 World Series with his defense?
"I think so. I know I played defense as well as anybody ever played it,"
Mazeroski said in a rare candid moment for a player remembered as much for
his quiet modesty as his athleticism. "I know I could turn the double play
as well as anybody ... and catch the ball as well as anybody."
Mazeroski was so prolific at turning the double play on the rock-hard
infield of Pittsburgh's now-demolished Forbes Field that he accounted for
more (1,760) double plays than all but three first basemen.
But Mazeroski said he never got his hopes up this year, even though the
Veterans Committee chairman was Joe L. Brown, the Pirates' general manager
throughout Mazeroski's career.
"I'm really not disappointed," said Mazeroski, who is back in the Pirates
camp for the first time since 1973 as an infield instructor. "This was the
first year I thought I had a shot, but I wasn't holding my breath."
Brown thinks Mazeroski will eventually get into the Hall of Fame as
voters begin to recognize more than just hitters and pitchers.
"Really? I didn't know that," Mazeroski said. "Who knows, maybe next
year."
Copyright 2003 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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