Watson World Series Series 1960 Maz sinks Yanks
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This is the 4th of a series of caches placed in the Watson area related to 7 memorable World Series. Each cache contains a clue you will need to solve to find the coordinates for the 7th and deciding cache. One piece of advice: If you plan to find them all at once, you might want to have internet access available to research the clues, as they may not be readily known to all. To help you, we placed the sixth cache near The Watson Library, so you can use their computers if you wish. "Play Ball"
Small cylinder with log and clue. All caches are within a three mile radius of beautiful downtown Watson. OK, it's not exactly a booming metropolis, but everyplace has a heart, and so it is in "Our Town". Hope you enjoy your visit.
Note each clue as you go. You will need the answers for the final coords
Please use stealth when visiting the cache sites-schools, churches, ballparks-you know the drill.
The 1960 World Series was played between the Pittsburgh Pirates (NL) and New York Yankees (AL) from October 5 to October 13, 1960. It is most notable for the Game 7, ninth-inning home run hit by Bill Mazeroski, winning the game for the Pirates 10–9, and also winning them their third Championship, their first since 1925.
The Pirates were grossly outmatched against the Yankees, who had won their tenth pennant in twelve years. Indeed, the Bronx Bombers outscored the Pirates 55–27 in this Series, outhit them 91–60, outbatted them .338 to .256, hit ten home runs to Pittsburgh's four (three of the latter's coming in Game 7), got two complete game shutouts from Whitey Ford—and lost. The Pirates' inconsistent pitching resulted in the peculiar combination of close games and routs. Law and Ford were both excellent for their teams. Pirates relief pitcher Elroy Face was a major factor in several games.
As mentioned previously, in 1960 the Yankees had won their tenth pennant in twelve years; only the Cleveland Indians in 1954 and the Chicago White Sox in 1959 had managed to break New York's streak of consecutive AL championships. The Pirates, meanwhile, were appearing in their first World Series since 1927, when they fell in a four-game sweep to the dominant "Murderers' Row" Yankees.
Pirate reliever Elroy Face successfully closed out the 9th inning in game 1 to give the Buccos a 6–4 victory and a 1–0 lead in the Series.
While the Pirates surprisingly drew first blood with their victory in Game 1, in Game 2 (matching New York's Bob Turley against the Pirates' Bob Friend) the Yankees conclusively demonstrated why they had dominated the previous decade, mercilessly pummelling the Buccos 16–3.
For Game 3, the series shifted to Yankee Stadium, and it was for this game that Stengel chose to send his ace, Whitey Ford, to the mound against Pittsburgh's Vinegar Bend Mizell. This proved to be a critical decision, as Ford's starting of the third game made him unavailable for an eventual deciding seventh game. Why Stengel did not tab Ford to start Game 1 has been the subject of much speculation. Ford's last starting assignment had been on September 28, a week before the first game of the World Series. Ford had also been used in two innings of relief on October 2, presumably just to keep his arm fresh as the Yankees had already clinched the pennant. Some have written that denying Ford the honor of starting Game 1 of the series was Stengel's way of punishing Mickey Mantle for off-field misconduct. Stengel's supposed logic being that although he couldn't bench his best player, a move unlikely to achieve the desired result in any event, he could penalize Mantle's off-field running mate and perhaps thereby moderate Mantle's behavior. However, since Ford underwent arm surgery after the series, a more likely explanation is that Ford was experiencing arm problems and was questionable for even two starts, let alone three. In fact, Ditmar at 15-9, 3.06 ERA and 200 IP had a superior record to Ford's 12-9, 3.08 ERA and 192.2 IP that season, so it may well have been a decision based on merit.
For the third contest, the Yankees did not let up on their offensive pressure from the second game at all. They grabbed a 6–0 lead by the end of the first inning, as Skowron and Howard ripped RBI base hits while Richardson clubbed a grand slam. (During the regular season, Richardson had hit only one home run, off Baltimore's Arnie Portocarrero on April 30.) In the fourth, the Bombers added on four more runs, courtesy of a two-run home run by Mantle and a two-run single by Richardson to increase their lead to 10-0. The Pirates, meanwhile, simply could not get anything going against Ford, who tossed a masterful two-hitter. The Yankees now led the series, 2–1.
The Buccos had seen their pitching fail them in the previous two games, as the team fell victim to the powerful Yankee bats. This was not the case in Game 4, however, as Pittsburgh sent Vern Law to the hill against Ralph Terry of the Yankees.
Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh brought in reliever Elroy Face, who held the fort for the final two innings as Pittsburgh won 3-2 and tied the series at two games each.
With the series now tied at two apiece, Yankee manager Casey Stengel started pitcher Art Ditmar, his Game 1 starter, against the Pirates' Harvey Haddix, who had become famous for losing a perfect game in the thirteenth inning of a game against the Milwaukee Braves the previous year.
Roy Face shut down the pinstripers in the bottom half of the 9th inning to give the Buccos a 5–2 victory and a 3–2 edge in the Series.
For the sixth contest in Pittsburgh, the Yankees threw Whitey Ford against the Pirates' Bob Friend. And as was the case the last time Ford had toed the rubber for the Yanks in Game 3, his teammates relentlessly mashed the ball en route to a resounding 12–0 victory.On the mound, as in Game 2, Ford was his masterful self, not letting the Pirates mount anything resembling a rally for the full nine innings. His second shutout of the series was a critical one, as it tied the series at three games each
Game 7
Thursday, October 13, 1960, at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Tm 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
N Y 0 0 0 0 1 4 0 2 2 9 13 1
Pitt 2 0 0 0 0 0 5 5 1 10 11 0
WP: Harvey Haddix (2–0) LP: Ralph Terry (0–2)
HRs: NYY – Bill Skowron (2), Yogi Berra (1) PIT – Rocky Nelson (1), Hal Smith (1), Bill Mazeroski (2)
Bob Turley, the winning pitcher in Game 2, got the nod for the Yankees against the Pirates' Vern Law, the winning pitcher in Games 1 and 4.
With the scored tied 9-9, Ralph Terry, who had gotten the final out of the eighth inning, returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. The first batter to face him was Bill Mazeroski. With a count of one ball and no strikes, the Pirates' second baseman smashed a historic long drive over the left field wall, ending the contest and crowning the National League as champions. As the Pirates erupted, the Yankees stood across the field in disbelief. The improbable champions were outscored, outhit, and outplayed, but had managed to pull out a victory anyhow. Years later, Mickey Mantle was quoted as saying that losing the 1960 series was the biggest disappointment of his career. For Bill Mazeroski, it was the highlight.
Mazeroski became the first player to hit a walk-off home run to win a World Series. Thirty-three years later, Joe Carter would become the only other player to end the World Series with a home run, doing so for the Toronto Blue Jays in the 1993 World Series, albeit in Game 6. Although most noted for the series-ending homer, Game 7 is also the only game in all of postseason history with no strikeouts recorded by either side.
Bobby Richardson of the Yankees was named MVP of the Series, the only time that someone from the defeated team has been so honored.
On a personal note, as a 9 year old die-hard Yankee fan growing up, I cried like a baby as Maz circled those bases. Needless to say, I have since gotten over it. I realized as we all eventually do that "Life is more than baseball".
A very worthy congratulations to Pat & Squirt for Winners of game 4 and final FTF of the series. Great job, you guys
Additional Hints
(Decrypt)
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