Mantle’s Mighty Blasts Level Series
Pittsburgh, Oct. 6 — Never have 37,308 persons sat so silently in one place, and for so long, as at Forbes Field today. They were struck dumb by the jaw‑dropping display of Yankee power that flattened their Pirates, 16‑3, with a near‑record barrage of 19 hits that evened the World Series at one game apiece.
The Yankees, embarrassed by their mistakes in the opener, came back with vengeance. Bob Turley, shaky at first, settled down after escaping a fourth‑inning jam when Gil McDougald speared Bill Mazeroski’s liner with two men on. That catch kept Turley in and sent Bob Friend to the showers, a move that opened the floodgates. From that point, the Yankees turned Forbes Field into a launching pad.
Fred Green relieved for Pittsburgh and was greeted by Mickey Mantle’s rocket into the right‑center seats for two runs in the fifth. In the sixth, Elston Howard smashed a drive off the light‑tower screen in center, and McDougald followed with a double to ignite a seven‑run inning, tying a Series record. Mantle struck again in the seventh, blasting a shot over the 436‑foot marker in dead center, a place no right‑handed hitter had ever reached. The Mick’s two homers and five runs batted in tied a Series mark set by Tony Lazzeri in 1936. “I can’t tell you how far he hit them,” said Casey Stengel. “He’s hit some so far I couldn’t see where they went.”
The Yankees’ attack was relentless — every man in the lineup joined the parade. Kubek, Maris, Berra, Skowron, and Richardson all contributed hits as the Bombers battered six Pirate pitchers. The Bucs, famed for their ninth‑inning rallies, managed a few late runs off Turley and Bobby Shantz, but the outcome had long been decided. “You don’t mind losing this kind too much,” said Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh. “If you have to be beat, you prefer it that way.”
The Yankees’ 16‑3 triumph was the most lopsided Series game since their 18‑4 rout of the Giants in 1936. Mantle’s blasts, the roar of Yankee bats, and the stunned silence of the Pittsburgh crowd told the story — the champions were back in stride, and the Series was all square.
Courtesy of The New York Daily News October 7, 1960 via Newspapers.com