yankees-pirates, 48 years later

When the New York Yankees last played in Pittsburgh, Bill Mazeroski did what he did and "made Mickey Mantle cry," as the young Colagero Anello tells Sonny LoSpecchio in A Bronx Tale, a movie moment that still makes everyone from Western Pennsylvania quietly pump their fists every time they see it, if not also causing them to point toward the screen and shout "HA HA!" to the annoyance of anyone else also present. All these years later, with the Bronx Bombers coming back for a sold-out interleague series at PNC Park starting Tuesday night, all the usual opportunities to wax nostalgic are out there. For starters, Gene Collier has a column in today's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that points to the obvious economic disparities between the teams, though he fails to mention that if the Pirates were better run, they'd have been much more competitive in recent years. Books-wise, I'd recommend Jim Reisler's Best Game Ever, which totally stole my own idea for a book topic but really is a terrific read. And heck, for old-time's sake, let's take this opportunity to gaze at that famous photo of Maz as he approaches home plate in what will always be Pittsburgh's greatest sports moment:

BEAT 'EM BUCS!