I got hooked on the Pirates in Hollywood
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This quartet of veteran Pirates took part in the 1960 World Series in which the Bucs beat the New York Yankees in seven games. From left are Bill Mazeroski, Vernon Law, Roberto Clemente and Elroy Face in March 1967.
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Whenever lifelong Pittsburgh Pirates fans gather, someone will always recall that he was at Forbes Field on Oct. 13, 1960, when Bill Mazeroski hit his bottom-of-the-ninth, seventh-game home run to defeat the hated Yankees, 10-9.
Others remember June 28, 1970, when Mazeroski fielded a high chopper, then stepped on second for the force out that brought down the curtain after 61 years on what Pirates announcer Bob Prince referred to as Lady Forbes.
But I'm probably the only Pirates fan in Pittsburgh who can say that in 1956 he saw Maz as a 20-year-old minor league sprout play for the Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars, then the Bucco's top farm team.
In Hollywood with the Stars, I began my unusual, indirect and six-decade long love affair with the Pirates.
I grew up in Los Angeles when the Dodgers were still in Brooklyn. The only professional team in town was the Los Angeles Rams.
Southern California baseball fans rooted for either the Stars or their bitter crosstown rivals, the Angels, a Chicago Cubs minor league affiliate.
The Stars, or Twinks as they were often called, was my team for the simple reason that it had glamour.
Owned by a consortium that included Gary Cooper, Gene Autry, Bing Crosby and Cecil B. DeMille, the Stars home games always had the movie glitterati in the stands. Fans could count on seeing Elizabeth Taylor, Gregory Peck or Natalie Wood at cozy Gilmore Field.
The most spectacular show business personality might have been Jayne Mansfield, who in 1955 reigned gloriously as Miss Hollywood Stars.
Mansfield's considerable allure aside, however, to a young boy, baseball was the thing. Rooting for the Stars meant that, by extension, I pulled for the Pirates. During the Branch Rickey years that was a true test of any fan's mettle.
In 1952, for example, the Pirates went 42-112, one of the worst records in baseball history. The Pirates finished a staggering 54.5 games behind the first place Dodgers and a mind-boggling 22 games beneath the seventh place Boston Braves. The agony of being a Pirates fan was tempered only slightly by the Stars' consistently top-notch performance.
First Published April 4, 2010 12:00 am
