MLB: Pirates and Yankees -- Do We Have Another 1960 This Year?

This might be a good time to revisit the 1960 World Series. After all, this year's World Series could involve the same two teams: The Pittsburgh Pirates and the New York Yankees. The two teams are now first place in their respective divisions.

In 1960, the perennial American League champs were favored to defeat the Pirates, who had not been in the World Series for 33 years. In addition, in the prior decade, the Bucs had been in seventh or eighth place eight times. The team got off to a hot 11-3 record in April. A 21-10 record pretty much gave them the National League pennant. The Bucs finished up the regular season with a 95-59 record. Vern Law won the Cy Young Award and Dick Groat was the National League MVP.

In comparison, the Yankees had won the World Series six times in the previous decade. Their roster was a star-studded cast, including: Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford. Casey Stengel was in his 12th season as the team manager. They had finished the regular season with a 97-57 record. Roger Maris was the American League MVP.

In this series, Stengel's choice of pitching rotation might have cost his team another championship, and his job. He was worried about the Pirates' left-handed bats in Yankee Stadium with the short right-field fence. So he saved Whitey Ford until the third game when the Series was scheduled to return to New York. The Pirates, on the other hand, started their ace Law in the first game, so he was able to pitch the fourth and seventh games as well.

This World Series had some wild swings in momentum. These were the scores for the first six games:

Game	Yankees	Pirates
1	4	6
2	16	3
3	10	0
4	2	3
5	2	5
6	12	0

After Ford's shutout in Game 3 and the second consecutive slaughter, it certainly looked liked the Yankees were on their way to another championship. But then in Game 4, Law returned to pitch another gem, which, as in Game 1, was saved by Elroy Face. The Pirates took Game 5 on a well-pitched game from Harvey Haddix. Ford threw another shutout for the Yankees in Game 6 to even the series.

So the stage was set for an exciting Game 7. Would Law be able to tame the Yankee bats for a third time, or would the Yankee bats dominate as they had in three games of the Series?

The Pirates jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead and by the third inning, the Yankees were on their third pitcher. Meanwhile, Law was in control of the game and took a 4-1 lead into the sixth inning. But when the two hitters at the top of the Yankees order got on base, Danny Murtaugh took out Law and brought in closer Face to handle the dangerous middle of the lineup. He got Maris on a popup, but then Mantle followed with a single. Berra followed with a three-run homer to give the Yankees the 5-4 lead.

The Yankees added two more runs in the top of the eighth to extend the lead to 7-4. But in the bottom of the ninth, the Bucs started with three singles off Bobby Shantz. Jim Coates replaced Shantz and retired the first two batters he faced. The next play is one that is rarely discussed but was crucial to the outcome of the game. Roberto Clemente hit a weak "excuse-me" ground ball between first base and second base which he was able to beat out for a hit. This kept the inning going and allowed Hal Smith to follow with a three-run bomb, which gave the Pirates a 9-7 lead going into the ninth inning.

The Yankees weren't going to go away quietly. The first two batters reached base against Bob Friend. Haddix, the left-hander, was brought in to face Maris, who popped out to the catcher. But Mantle and Berra each knocked in runs to tie the game at 9-9.

In the bottom of the ninth, every Pittsburgh fan can recite Mel Allen's call on NBC TV:

"

There's a drive into deep left field, look out now, that ball is going, going gone! And the World Series is over! Mazeroski hits it over the left field fence, and the Pirates win it 10-9 and win the World Series!

"

Do we have something similar in store for 2012? Who will be the hero this time? Could it be Neil Walker hitting the game winning blast against David Robertson in the bottom of the ninth of Game 7?  Well, we will just have to wait a few months to find out.