The World Series has had it's moments: Babe Ruth calling his shot, and Bob Gibson striking out 17 batters. There is Christy Mathewson, who tossed three shutouts in six days, and there was catcher Mickey Owen missing connections with a third strike. There was Willie Mays' incredible catch in 1954 off of Vic Wertz, and there was Fred Snodgrass muffing a fly ball. Don't forget Bill Wambsganss making an unassisted triple play, and Bill Buckner letting an easy roller escape.

   The Series is Enos "Country" Slaughter racing home from first base when everyone else in the ballpark assumed he'd hold up at third. The Series is Grover Cleveland Alexander trudging out of the bullpen to strike out Tony Lazzeri, and it's Joe Medwick being showered with debris from irate fans. It is Don Larsen, imperfect pitcher of the New York Yankees, pitching perfectly, and it's Cookie Lavagetto depriving Bill Bevens of no-hit glory. It's Carlton Fisk homering off the foul pole, and it's Reggie Jackson smacking three first-pitch homers in one game. It's the New York Mets down to their last strike. It's Joe Carter ending things for the Toronto Blue Jays.

   But through all of this, there is one moment that inhabits the dreams of kids playing stickball more than any other: winning Game 7 with a ninth-inning home run to defeat a heavily favored Goliath. And in all the years that baseball teams have met in the World Series, there is only one player who has ended a Game 7 of the World Series with a home run - Bill Mazeroski of the Pirates.

   Mazeroski was better known for his slick fielding than his bat. Though he won 8 Gold Gloves in his career, he was a lifetime .260 hitter who managed just 138 career HR in 17 big league seasons. But the Pirates would need production from their light-hitting second baseman if they were to upset the mighty Yankees, who had won 8 World Series in the previous 11 years. In 1960, they were led by AL home run king Mickey Mantle, AL MVP and RBI leader Roger Maris, and three-time MVP catcher Yogi Berra, plus the best pitching staff in the game (it included two Cy Young Award winners: Whitey Ford and Bob Turley).

   And indeed, statistically speaking, the Yankees overpowered the Pirates in the 1960 World Series - after 4 games, they had scored 32 runs and the Pittsburgh Pirates had managed only 12.  Yet at that juncture, the Series was tied at two victories apiece. After 6 games, they had outscored the Pirates 46-17, yet the Series was knotted at three games apiece.

   See, after the Pirates won the opener 6-4, New York, led by Mickey Mantle's two home runs and five runs batted in, clubbed six Pirates pitchers for 19 hits and rolled to a 16-3 victory in the second game. Then, as the Series shifted to Yankee Stadium, the Yankees' second baseman Bobby Richardson (who had driven in only 7 runs in the last 75 games of the American League season and just 26 overall in '60) connected for a bases-loaded home run off reliever Clem Labine in the first inning of Game 3. Richardson later contributed a two-run single, giving him a Series-record six RBIs, and Mantle stung the Pirates with a two-run homer and three other hits. New York was a 10-0 winner, with Whitey Ford pitching a four-hitter.

   The Pirates gave the ball to first-game winner Vern Law in Game 4. Law, who had a 20-9 record and a 3.08 ERA in 1960, had won the NL Cy Young Award. He combined with relief ace Roy Face to beat back the Yankees, 3-2. The Pirates then took a 3-2 Series lead, knocking out Art Ditmar (who had lasted 1/3 of an inning in Game 1) in 1 1/3 innings and winning 5-2.

   The Yankees came back in Game 6, their big bats and the pitching guile of Whitey Ford resulting in a 12-0 win at Forbes Field. Ford's seven-hitter was his  second shutout of the Series.

Game 7: Game 7 unfolded along classic lines. Law, drawing his third start of the Series, was staked to a 4-0 lead when Rocky Nelson cracked a two-run homer in the first inning off Bob Turley (9-3, 3.27 ERA in 1960), and Bill Virdon stroked a two-run single in the second against reliever Bill Stafford. The Yankees nicked Law for a run in the fifth when Moose Skowron powered a homer into the lower right-field stands, and drove the right-hander from the game during a go-ahead rally in the sixth. Richardson began the inning with a single and Tony Kubek drew a base on balls. Law gave way to Roy Face, who got Maris to foul out. Mantle, though, singled home a run and Berra followed with a three-run homer that shot New York into a 5-4 lead.

   Clinging to its one-run lead with two out in the eighth, New York went to work against Face. A walk to Berra, singles by Skowron and Johnny Blanchard and a double by Clete Boyer netted two runs and, with Yankee reliever Bobby Shantz at the top of his game (as evidenced by his five scoreless innings of pitching since taking over in the third), New York appeared to be in good shape.

   But the Pirates weren't done: Gino Cimoli led off the Pittsburgh eighth with a pinch single and Virdon hit a sharp grounder toward Kubek, the Yankees' shortstop. The ball took a bad hop, striking Kubek in the throat and forcing him out of the game. Virdon was alive at first with an infield single, Cimoli was stationed at second and Joe DeMaestri was summoned to replace the injured Kubek. Dick Groat's single cut the lead to 7-5, and Roberto Clemente's infield hit scored Virdon and advanced Groat to third. Now trailing 7-6, Pittsburgh had two runners on base and Hal Smith at the plate. Smith had entered the game in the top of the eighth after Pirates catcher Smoky Burgess had left for a pinch-runner in the previous inning; now, this defensive substitution sent shock waves through the Pittsburgh crowd by blasting a home run over the left-field wall.

   Now it was the Yankees turn to rally. Bob Friend, an 18-game winner for the Pirates and the Bucs' starter in Games 2 and 6, came on in the ninth to try to protect the 9-7 lead. Bobby Richardson and pinch-hitter Dale Long greeted Friend with singles and Pirates Manager Danny Murtaugh lifted the veteran pitcher in favor of Harvey Haddix. Maris fouled out, but Mantle delivered a single that scored Richardson and moved Long to third. Berra followed with a strong grounder to first, with Nelson stepping on the base for the second out. In what, at the time, stood as a monumental play, Mantle, seeing he had no chance to beat a play at second, scurried back to first and avoided Rocky Nelson's tag - which would have been the third out - as pinch runner Gil McDougald raced home to tie the score, 9-9. Skowron's grounder forced Berra, ending the Yankees' inning.

   Now both teams had overcome big leads, and the game went to the bottom of the ninth deadlocked at 9-9.  Ralph Terry, who had gotten the final out in the Pirates' eighth, returned to the mound in the bottom of the ninth. The first man he faced was Mazeroski. His first pitch was a ball; with a count of one ball and no strikes, the Pirates' second baseman smashed a drive over the wall in left.  The Pirates had been outscored, 55-27, and outhit, 91-60, in the seven games, but Mazeroski's shot left them 10-9 winners and improbable champions.

   The Pirates won their first world championship in 35 years even though they are outscored 55-27 in the seven games.