Mazeroski not Waner deserved to Bucs’ Franchise Four
I just wanted to express my total disagreement with John Perrato’s recent article regarding the fan’s voting for the Pittsburgh Pirates “Franchise Four” players. We all know that opinions are like noses as the proverbial saying goes, but Perrato’s disregard for the fans’ opinion that Bill Mazeroski belongs in that group is totally off the mark. He contends that Paul Waner is the obvious choice over Mazeroski. I always had respect for this man, but after this article, I am wondering why you would even have his articles in your newspapers.
To say I couldn’t disagree more with Perrato would be an understatement. First off, the fans vote for was Major League Baseball’s “Franchise Four” for each team in both leagues. So what the crux of this issue is, what is the Franchise Four? In my opinion, If you were a general manager, which person would you select as the player that you would want to build a franchise around. Perrato contends that Waner has to be in the equation since he had 3,152 hits in his career. Albeit a great accomplishment, what he failed to do was look at what history says about Waner as a person. The Pirates management asked him to stop drinking in 1938 as he used to play the game in a hung over state. Casey Stengel once complimented his base running abilities by saying “He had to be a very graceful player, because he could slide without breaking the bottle on his hip.” At age 37, he was released by the Pirates to pursue another team and he got his 3,000th hit with the Boston Braves. So his 3,000 plus hits weren’t all with the Pirates – only 2,868. My thoughts that of all the franchise players in the pre-free agent era (with the exception of Babe Ruth) in that era would you outright release a franchise hitter and a person only 132 hits away from reaching the 3,000 hit milestone? There has to be more to the story.
Additionally, the Pirates never won a World Series while Waner was on the team. However, I must say that Waner was a great player, Hall of Famer and a tremendous hitter who played most of his time in right field for the Pirates. His name needs to be in the conversation, but not to discredit Mazeroski in the process.
Maz on the other hand, was the greatest fielder of any position that the Bucs ever had, period. He accomplished this playing half of his games on the worst infield in baseball – Forbes Field. If you are going to look at stats, you can’t discredit that one. If you ask any pitcher of that era, they will tell you that they loved having both Maz and Clemente on the right side of the diamond as it made their jobs much easier. His turning a double play, in my opinion, is still unmatched in the game today. As many of us know, he was an eight-time Gold Glove winner, seven- time All-Star, and two-time World Series champion best known for hitting the most famous home run in the history of the game.
What people don’t know about Mazeroski the man, is the amount of time he spends with charities, talking to people and signing autographs. He has been the ambassador of the Pirates since his retirement, attending mostly every function they ask of him (and I must say he does not want the limelight).
At this point, I must say that I never saw Waner play, but neither did Perrato. I don’t contend that he wasn’t a great player and deserving to be considered for the Franchise Four. What I am saying is that someone that supposedly knows baseball like Perrato didn’t do his homework nor does he understand what it means to be a Franchise Player. It isn’t the number of hits one amasses in his career, but the value of the player to the franchise over his career. Furthermore, who would you rather have batting in the bottom of the ninth against the Yankees with the World Series on the line? History will tell you that. Nonetheless, if Perrato knows baseball the way he thinks he does, would he want someone who history shows had an issue with alcohol to the point where his employer asked him to stop be his franchise player…..that is why he is a writer and not a general manager.
The fans of Pittsburgh have spoken and the four statues that are outside of PNC Park are Pittsburgh’s Franchise Four. As for Maz, I think if you ask Pirates management, they would concur with my opinion that possibly no Pirate has meant more to their franchise over the past 50 plus years. So for Perrato, go back to your statistics to write your articles. Remember, statistics don’t win ball games.
John Malone is a resident of Connellsvlle.