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Glove affair Mazeroski, defensive players finally get their due
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- No one wore a glove like Bill Mazeroski. Mazeroski was showing off one of his tattered old pieces of leather the other day at the Pirates' spring training camp, one barely bigger than the batting gloves worn by some hitters today. The glove is so small, so nondescript, that most Little Leaguers would be embarrassed to wear it. Yet what Mazeroski did with that glove was something special. The Wizard of Oz, Ozzie Smith? He had nothing on the magic of Maz. Mazeroski, who perfected the art of turning the double play in the 1950s and never has been rivaled at it, was finally voted into the Hall of Fame on Tuesday after more than 20 years of snubbing -- first by sports writers, then by his own contemporaries on the Veterans Committee. Mazeroski, as modest a man who ever played major league baseball, long played down the years of rejection, saying he never considered himself a Hall of Famer in 18 seasons at second base for the Pittsburgh Pirates. "I drove a Ford or a Chevy," he said. "The Hall of Famers drove Caddys." Still, he also was certain that defense would eventually have its day -- and when it did, it might be his day. He just hoped to be alive to see it. "I know I played defense as well as anybody played it," Mazeroski said. Given Mazeroski's humility -- he introduced himself recently to some young Pirates players as "an old infielder" -- such a statement was as close as he ever got to lobbying for the Hall. Not that he needed to, since so many of his former teammates were content to do it for him. "To me, it was an embarrassment that he wasn't in there," former Pirates shortstop Dick Groat said. "It was a disgrace. Nobody ever fielded the ball like Bill Mazeroski did." Mazeroski is best remembered by millions for striking the most famous World Series homer in history to fell the mighty New York Yankees in 1960. But defense was his game, and few -- if any -- played it like he did. Baseball Ratings, compiled by Charles Faber and one of the most exhaustive statistical analysis ever undertaken, ranks Mazeroski as the best fielder at any position. Total Baseball, the game's official encyclopedia, rates him the 77th best player of all time -- far higher than many players who made the Hall decades ago. Mazeroski was so proficient at turning the double play on the concrete-hard infield at Pittsburgh's Forbes Field that, when he retired in 1972, he had turned more than all but three first basemen -- that's right, first basemen -- in the game's history. Teaming with shortstop Gene Alley in 1966, Mazeroski turned 161 double plays, almost one a game and more than many teams today turn in a season. He did by perfecting a trick that never has been duplicated before or since, an ability to field a grounder by flicking it off his glove toward the shortstop without the ball ever nestling in his glove. It earned him the nickname "No Touch," and it made his play seem so easy and effortless that it masked the extreme skill it took to perfect. Former Pirates center fielder Bill Virdon still marvels at it. "I backed him up for 10 years, and I don't remember ever fielding a ball," Virdon said. What long hurt Mazeroski's candidacy was the lack of visual evidence of his artistry. Games were seldom recorded during his time, and TV stations long ago destroyed the footage of Pirates games. And, unlike Smith's era, there was no "SportsCenter" or superstation to showcase nationally the defensive gems he performed daily. Still, even though Mazeroski retired 29 years ago, he still holds records for double plays in a season and a career and most years leading the league in double plays and assists. He won the first NL Gold Glove at second base in 1958 and proceeded to win eight of the next 10. "No one did it better," said Hall of Famer Brooks Robinson, a 16-time Gold Glove winner. "He set the standard." Mazeroski's .260 average is low by Hall standards, he still had 2,016 hits -- 405 fewer than Smith, but in 1,514 fewer at-bats. Mazeroski also led all major league middle infielders with 714 RBIs during his peak years from 1957-67. In Pittsburgh, it was widely thought that once Smith was inducted for his defense a year from now, it might pave the way for Mazeroski's enshrinement. Instead, Mazeroski beat him by a year. "I'm a sentimental person," Mazeroski said Tuesday. "I even cry at sad commercials." Only this time, they were tears of happiness. For the rest of his life, he will be known not as Bill Mazeroski, but as Hall of Famer Bill Mazeroski. And, yes, this glove truly fits.
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