A story from game seven you haven’t heard

During Wednesday’s tribute to Maz and the 1960 Bucs I had the honor and privilege to hear some amazing stories from fans who were at game seven of the world series. 50 years later they are still celebrating the great feat and sharing where they were when Mazeroski hit that historic home run.

But one story in particular was very special. George Boyle was not only at game seven, he also caught the home run at 3:36 on film.

Boyle was shooting news film for KDKA-TV and a lot of his assignments included Pirates game coverage.

When tickets for the series went on sale, they were on a lottery basis. The general public had to send in a check or money order to the Pirates’ and then they would have a drawing to select who would receive the tickets. Boyle sent in his check and a few days later received two tickets in the mail. The tickets were for game seven.

His friends laughed at the thought the Pirates would ever make it that far against the mighty Yankees. Everyone told him that his tickets were useless. But it sure didn’t dampen his enthusiasm. Boyle told his news directors that, “If the series went to the full seven games, I wasn’t going to work. Instead, I intended to take my wife to the ball game and be a regular spectator.” His news director laughed and said, “Oh sure, you do that,” and dismissed the subject.

Game seven, as you know, did happen, and Boyle reminded his news director on the night before that he intended to take his wife to the ball game. He insisted on giving him a handful of special passes (Locker room, field, press box, etc.). His news director also insisted he take his camera along, “in case the Pirates pulled off a miracle win” in which he was to film it.

It was there, from Section one row A –the from row in right field– that Boyle caught the magic moment all on film.

Without a tripod, he was able to hold the camera steady enough to film. After Yankees shortstop Tony Kubec was hit in the throat after the ball took a unfortunate bounce, Boyle started filming the footage of the emergency activity taking place on the field. He continued filming every pitch.

Everyone knows the outcome of the game. Mazeroski is at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pirates and Yankees are tied at nine. The 1-0 pitch sailed over the left-center field scoreboard at 3:36 PM winning the World Series in dramatic fashion.

Once the ball cleared the scoreboard, Boyle’s wife lost all control. During her excitement she began beating him on his back with both fists screaming “We did it, we did it!” With his emotions running wild and the beating on his back, Boyle was trying to follow Maz running around the bases on film.

Boyle said he had “extreme-close ups” from the moment the Yankees’ pitcher began his windup to Mazeroski’s historic run around the bases.

When people first viewed his film, they accused him of being drunk since the film was shaky.

Immediately following the game, Boyle hurried out of the stadium to find a taxi. He gave the driver a $20 tip to give the film to the station so that it could be processed in time for the evening news.

Other footage eventually replaced his film but Boyle’s was the first to hit the air. An incredible story that he says he “still laughs each time I remember that day.”

Here is a photo of Boyle holding the camera he used to film game seven of the 1960 World Series. It used 16 mm movie film, which he said, “It was standard in the industry at the time.”