The Nitty Gritty Card of the Day-1965 Topps Bill Mazeroski

Today’s card of the day is number 95 from the 1965 Topps set of Pirates second baseman Bill Mazeroski. According to the poll on my other blog, the Collective Troll, Maz is in a heated race with his former teammate Roy Face and fellow Hall of Famer Larry Doby to be the next player that I collect. I am not going to go over any of Maz’s career numbers, but you can find all of his career stats right HERE. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 2001 based on the amazing glove work he provided over his 17 year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates. He was a decent hitter who hit one of the most famous homeruns in MLB history. A walk-off winner against the Yankees in the 1960 World Series. Topps mentions that one on the back of the card along with his complete major and minor stats. 1965 is one of my favorite sets of all time, I love the design and the photography, but the cartoons on the blue card backs seal it for me. Maz was a ten-time All Star and won 8 Gold Gloves. He led the NL in fielding percentage 3 times and owns a career mark of .983. More impressively, he led the NL in assists 9 times and double plays 8. In 1961 Maz turned 144 double plays and over his career he turned two 1706 times, which is a major league record for second baseman. Thanks in part to his famous homerun and leading the Pirates to a World Championship in 1960, the Sporting News named Maz the Major League Player of the Year in 1960. He retired after the 1972 season, one year after winning a second World Series with the Bucs. Don’t forget, there is just one more day to vote for my new player collection. That also means just one more day till the big CT Contest Giveaway! Thanks for reading! 45 years LATER!