Mazeroski, Smith Voted to Hall of Fame
T A M P A, Fla., March 6 -- Bill Mazeroski, who hit one of baseball'smost famous home runs, was elected to the Hall of Fame todayby the Veterans Committee, along with former Negro leagues playerHilton Smith.
Dick Williams, Gil Hodges, Dom DiMaggio and Marvin Miller werebypassed by the panel, down to 14 members because of Ted Williams'recent open-heart surgery. It took 75 percent — 11 votes — forelection.
"I'm pretty happy," said Mazeroski, who was at the site of thecommittee's meeting. "I don't really know what to say. I never,ever expected to be here. You dream of a lot of things. You want tobe in the big leagues. You want to make the All-Star game. You wantto be in a World Series.
"You want to do all those things, but you never dream of this.It's pretty exciting. I just hope I can live up to it."
Induction ceremonies will be held Aug. 5 at Cooperstown, N.Y.Kirby Puckett and Dave Winfield were elected in January by theBaseball Writers' Association of America.
Home Run Won 1960 World Series
The Vets were allowed to pick up to four new Hall of Famers, onefrom each of four categories: former major leaguers, Negroleaguers, 19th century players and personnel, plus a composite ofmanagers, umpires, executives and Negro leaguers.
In 1992, Mazeroski's last year on the BBWAA ballot, he waslisted on 182 of 430 ballots, 42.3 percent. A player needed 323votes for election that year.
Mazeroski's homer at Forbes Field won Game 7 of the 1960 WorldSeries for the Pittsburgh Pirates against the New York Yankees. (For that and other special World Series memories, click here.)
He came within one vote of election last year, when, for thefirst time since 1993, the Vets did not select a former majorleaguer.
Mazeroski, a .260 hitter, was a seven-time All-Star and woneight Gold Gloves for the Pirates. He took part in a record 1,706double plays at second base, and many consider him the finestfielder ever at the position.
Smith, a teammate of Satchel Paige on the Kansas City Monarchs,died in 1983. He was 72-32 in 146 games from 1937 to 1948. His bestseason was 1941, when he went 10-0.
