By Bobster

Monday, October 10, 1960---Tied 2 games apiece, Harvey Haddix went for the Pirates against Art Ditmar of NY. Haddix had not yet appeared in the series. Ditmar started and lost game 1, lasting less than one inning.

Ditmar had a much better first inning this time, getting Virdon to pop to catcher Elston Howard, Groat to fly to Cerv in LF and Clemente to bounce to Kubek at SS. Haddix got McDougald to ground to Hoak at 3B and Maris to ground to Maz at 2B. But Cerv got an infield hit and took second on an errant throw by Hoak. Mantle walked and Skowron whiffed.

By Bobster

Sunday, October 9, 1960---Game 4 was pivotal for the Pirates. They would either tie it at 2-2 or go down 3-1 in the series. Vern Law took the mound for the Pirates on 3 days rest and a sprained ankle. Ralph Terry made his first appearance in the series for the Yankees. The 24-year old Terry was 10-8 in the regular season with a 3.40 ERA. He had pitched both as a reliever and a starter for the Yankees. Terry had struggled out of the bullpen with a 7.58 ERA in 12 appearances. But in his 23 starts, Terry had an impressive 2.86 ERA. The Bucs started meekly against Terry. Virdon flied to Mantle in CF, Groat popped to short and Clemente struck out. Cerv opened the first for NY with a single and took third when Kubek followed with a double. Maris flied to Clemente in short RF. Cerv, at third, took a few steps toward home. But Clemente fired a strike to Burgess and Cerv retreated. Mantle walked to load the bases with one out. Berra then hit a hard ground ball to Hoak at third. Hoak stepped on the bag and threw to Stuart for an inning ending double play. It appeared Berra beat the throw to first. But the Pirates caught a break as Law escaped the jam.

By Bobster

Saturday, October 8, 1960---On the heels of their 16-3 shellacking of the Pirates, the Yankees won a 10-0 game in Yankee Stadium before 70,001 fans. The issue was settled quickly. Whitey Ford set down the Pirates in the first inning, getting Virdon to bounce back to Ford, Groat to ground to Richardson at 2B, and striking out Clemente.

By Bobster

Friday, October 7, 1960---With the series tied at one apiece, the Pirates and Yankees were off as they traveled to New York for games 3, 4 and 5 at Yankee Stadium.

By Bobster

Thursday, October 6, 1960---The Pirate learned that one of their best hitters, Bob Skinner, may be out for the rest of series. Skinner sprained his left thumb in the opening game and it had swollen to where he couldn’t grip the bat properly. Cimoli would take over in LF. Without Skinner, the Pirates lineup would feature only Virdon and Burgess as left-handed swingers against the right-handed Bob Turley (9-3) unless Danny Murtaugh also benched his primary HR threat in Dick Stuart to start the left-handed Rocky Nelson. Neither Virdon nor Burgess had great power. So Murtaugh benched Stuart for Game 2 and inserted the left-handed Rocky Nelson at 1B batting fourth. Cimoli would bat fifth. The Pirates sent 18-game winner Bob Friend (18-12) against Turley.

By Bobster

Wednesday, ---The World Series came to Forbes Field after a 33-year absence. For the first time since Lloyd & Paul Waner and Pie Traynor were playing in 1927, the Pirates were competing for a world championship. The Yankees came to town having won their final 15 games of the regular season.

NY SS Tony Kubek opened the 1960 Classic with a single off Vernon Law, but was promptly erased on a DP when Hector Lopez followed with a ground ball to Bill Mazeroski. But Roger Maris slugged a HR before Mickey Mantle flied out to Bill Virdon in CF to give the Yankees a quick 1-0 lead.

By Bobster

Tuesday, October 4, 1960---Just one more day before the Pirates would play in the team’s first World Series since 1927.

By Bobster

Monday, October 3, 1960---The teams had 2 days off to prepare for the World Series. The Yankees had closed out the regular season with an incredible 15-game winning streak. They were on a roll and would enter the World Series as the hottest team in baseball. But the Pirates weren’t exactly chopped liver. They had won 10 of their last 15.

By Bobster

Sunday, October 2, 1960--- The National League Champion Pittsburgh Pirates (95-59) wrapped up their regular season by getting some measure of revenge on Lew Burdette, denying the Braves’ pitcher his 20th win. It was Burdette whose pitch broke Dick Groat’s wrist on September 6th. But now Groat was back and the Pirates defeated Burdette (19-13) behind Vinegar Bend Mizell (13-5) and Harvey Haddix. The Pirates scored 2 in the first inning. Joe Christopher led off with a single and advanced to third on a pair of ground outs. He scored on a single by Nelson, who then scored on a double by Clemente.

By Bobster

Saturday, October 1, 1960---Bob Friend won his 18th, defeating 21-game winner Warren Spahn by a score of 7-3. The Pirates took a 1-0 first inning lead when Clemente singled and Stuart tripled. The Braves tied it 1-1 in the third on singles by Spahn, Bruton and Crandall. But the Bucs (94-59) chased Spahn (21-10) with a 6-run fourth to go up 7-1. The rally began with consecutive singles by Smith, Hoak and Mazeroski to load the bases. Virdon’s sac fly was dropped by Covington in LF as a run scored and the bases remained loaded. Groat followed with a single to score a pair. Clemente singled in a run. Then Stuart singled in a run. That was all for Spahn as Carl Willey relieved him. Cimoli greeted Willey with a double, scoring Clemente to make it 7-1.