The Pittsburgh Pirates' 1960 Season

by David Finoli

In the history of the Pittsburgh Pirates, no team has been more memorable than that of 1960. In the decade before, the team produced only two winning a second-place finish in 1958 and in 1959. In 1960, they put it all together to win the pennant. Their reward was a trip to the World Series against the favored New York Yankees. In the Yankees" three winning games, they outscored Pittsburgh 38-3, but the Pirates were able to win three to send it to Game 7. In one of the most exciting contests in the history of the sport, the Pirates came up in the bottom of the ninth with the score tied. At exactly 3:36 p.m., Bill Mazeroski hit a home run over the left field wall to give the Pirates a memorable championship. This book tells the story of that magnificent team and its glorious victory, which will be etched into the minds of Pittsburgh baseball fans forever.

131 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 6, 2015

Reviews

[Jeff · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arcadia Publishing's Images of… series of books is an interesting endeavor and I can only imagine the effort that authors must undertake to create a member of the series. For those of you who are unfamiliar, The Images of [America] [Baseball] [et cetera] principally comprise collections of photographs of a particular subject accompanied by pertinent captions that provide context.

In The Pittsburgh Pirates' 1960 Season, David Finoli takes on the topic of a legendary baseball team, the 1960 World Champion Pittsburgh Pirates. Having read some of Mr. Finoli's other works, I fully expected this book to be well-researched and well-presented… and I was not disappointed. Unlike many of his less-accomplished peers, Mr. Finoli did not focus solely on the World Series; rather, he also provided photographs and background covering the history of Forbes Field, the owners and management of the team, the players themselves, and the manner by which the team was constructed. And he did not focus solely on the stars; he included many "bit" players who played at some point in the season, even if they contributed little to the end product.

In short, this is an excellent photo journal, not only of the 1960 season, but of the years leading up to the 1960 season. This approach lent additional context that made the reading even more meaningful and I applaud Mr. Finoli for his efforts.

So… why four stars and not five? It was the section on the World Series itself that fell a little short. There are so many photos — many of which I have seen in other venues — that I have to assume that the Pirates would have made available. For example, Bill Virdon made an amazing outfield catch in Yankee Stadium and I have seen a photo of that in a Pirates Yearbook. But it's not here, nor is there much mention of it (or any other defensive play) in Mr. Finoli's narrative. And where is there any picture of the events surrounding the ground ball that hit Tony Kubek in the eighth inning of Game 7? This was perhaps the most significant moment in the entire game, other than Mazeroski's home run.

In the end, it might be that I just don't understand how difficult it is to pull a book like this together. And I don't want my criticism to take away from what is an otherwise outstanding effort. This is a book worth reading and worth keeping for the treasures it possesses.

[Lew · Rating 4 out of 5]

This a great photo journal of the Pirates' 1960 season and a must for any Pirate Fan's library. My four star rating is the middle ground between 5 stars for the photos especially of players who contributed to the 1960 team and 3 Stars for the captions which many times didn't even address what was actually in the photo but a separate narrative of the games. Also, a photo taken outside of Forbes Field was used twice in the first chapter (page 11 & 21).
Even with these issues, I'm still appreciative of David Finoli creating this book for Pirate fans and glad to have it a part of my Pirate Library.