Monday, April 5, 2010

Pirates' 1960 champs 'a team of destiny'


The Post Gazette did a big spread on the 1960 Pirates yesterday. First link is the article and the second is "where are they now?"

Fifty years ago on Easter, the Pirates had a baseball awakening.

Trailing the Cincinnati Reds by five runs in the second game of a doubleheader and down to their last two outs, the Pirates rallied for a 6-5 win. The biggest blows were a three-run home run by Hal Smith and a two-run blast by Bob Skinner, who said his game-winning trip around the bases was like "walking on air."

A victory in the first week of a protracted season might not qualify as pivotal, but it did establish a palpitating pattern of comebacks. On 22 ensuing occasions, the 1960 Pirates won in their final at-bat, which helps explain why that season continues to enchant and enthrall.

"That game was when we really believed we could win," said team captain Dick Groat. "Then, we did it so many times it became contagious. It got to the point where we thought we weren't supposed to lose. We were like a team of destiny."

Nothing is older than yesterday's news, especially in this age of Twitter and the blogosphere. But even if baseball lends itself to nostalgia, 1960 stands out as a season worth remembering. It has been called the last pure season because it was the last one before expansion. And in these parts, nothing could be as pure as the Oct. 13 home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the World Series that beat the Yankees.

Read more:

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10094/1047107-63.stm#ixzz0kECmmu3I

Where are they now?

http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/10094/1047591-63.stm

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