Editor

The 2001 Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will celebrate the careers of three players who not only had Hall of Fame careers, but also are a part of baseball history for their individual heroics in World Series play.

For the 62nd consecutive year, Cooperstown will host the Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony, to be held on Sunday, August 5, at 1:30 p.m, on the grounds of the Clark Sports Center. The program for the 2001 Induction Ceremony will include the dedication of inductee plaques of Bill Mazeroski, Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett and Hilton Smith. Also featured will be the presentation of the 2000 J.G. Taylor

Spink Award to Los Angeles baseball writer Ross Newhan and the 2001 Ford C. Frick Award to Felo Ramfrez, the Spanish radio voice of the Florida Marlins. There is no admission fee for the event.

Veteran baseball broadcaster, George Grande, who has called games for ESPN, the New York Yankees, St. Louis Cardinals, and, currently, the Cincinnati Reds, will serve as master of ceremonies at the Induction.

Longtime Minnesota Twins public address announcer Bob Casey will introduce this year's inductees. Ralph Branca, former major league pitcher, will sing the National Anthem at the Ceremony. Deacon Al Oliver, who starred in the major leagues for 18 seasons, will deliver the invocation.

The 2001 Induction Ceremony will be shown live on ESPN Classic with Karl Ravech, Harold Reynolds, and Buck Showalter anchoring the broadcast, while Brian Kenny provides special reports. Prior to the ceremony, from noon to 1 p.m., ESPN2's Baseball Today, with the three ceremony anchors, will broadcast live from the Induction Site.

Mazeroski, a defensive wizard who holds numerous fielding records, played his entire 17-year career with the Pittsburgh Pirates, and will forever be known for hitting a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series to give the Pirates the Series' victory. Mazeroski, a career .260 hitter, hit .320 in that '60 World Series but it was that home run, and his famous dance around the bases, that made him a part of baseball history.

The home run helped make Mazeroski one of the most, if not the most popular baseball players of all time in Pittsburgh. In 1999, the Pirates had fans select their all-century team, and Mazeroski received more votes than any other player, including six other Hall of Fame players.

He received more votes than such Pittsburgh legends Willie Stargell, Ralph Kiner and even Roberto Clemente.

Mazeroski hit that famous home run off Yankees" hurler Ralph Terry leading off the bottom of the ninth. Pittsburgh had a 9-7 lead heading to the top of the ninth, but the Yankees came back with two runs to tie the score. On his orientation visit to the Hall of Fame last June, Mazeroski talked about his memories of that home run.

"As happy as I was running out on the field for the top of the ninth, I was just as sad when we left the field after they tied it up," Mazeroski recalled. "I was thinking we can't let these guys bat again, and I had my head down on the bench when someone yelled, 'Hey Maz, you're up."

"I was just thinking I had to hit the ball hard someplace," Mazeroski continued. "The first pitch was high, and the catcher yelled out to (Yankee pitcher Ralph) Terry to get the ball down. He still got the next pitch up, and when I hit it, I knew (Yankee leftfielder) Yogi (Berra) wouldn't catch it. When I rounded first I saw the umpire give the home run signal, and when I hit second I just kind of floated home from there. I don't think my feet ever touched the ground after I hit second base."

Mazeroski was a 10-time National League All Star, and led the NL in important defensive categories 25 times in his career, including nine times in assists, three times in fielding percentage, and eight times in his specialty: double plays. He was known for his lightning pivot on the double play, prompting Pittsburgh broadcaster Bob prince to nickname him "No Hands" and his 1,706 career twin killings are by far the most of any middle infielder in history. When Rawlings began awarding Gold Gloves in 1957, Mazeroski won eight of the first ten awards for second basemen.

Kirby Puckett

Kirby Puckett was the youngest of nine children who grew up in the housing projects of Chicago's South Side, a place he said was nicknamed "Where Hope Goes to Die." But in his case, it was where hope was born.

During his orientation visit to the Hall of Fame in May, Puckett said he wasn't even scouted in high school because "if scouts can't into my neighborhood they might never get back out."

At 5'8" Puckett was told he was too small to be a major league player, but his talent for hitting was undeniable and his enthusiasm for the game, and for life, was contagious. Puckett got four hits in his first major league game, and led the Minnesota Twins, for whom he played his entire career, to World Series titles in 1987 and 1991.

In Game Six of the 1991 World Series, Puckett had perhaps the greatest individual game in Series history: an RBI triple in the first inning, a memorable leaping catch in the third, a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fifth, a single and stolen base in the eighth, and a game-winning homer in the 11th. Leading off the bottom of the 11th in that game, Puckett said he turned to Chili Davis, who followed him in the order, and told him he was going to bunt his way on.

"The people here want to see you win this game, not me," Puckett remembered Davis telling him. "Look for a change-up and hit it out of the park."

Puckett told him he's see what he could do, and promptly knocked a change-up from the Braves' Charlie Leibrandt over the leftcenter field wall. The Twins went on to win the series in seven games.

Puckett, a 10-time All Star, ended his short, 12-year career with a .318 lifetime batting average, and his 2,040 hits in his first 10 years are the most in baseball history.

Puckett was forced to retire at the age of 35 after being hit in the face by a pitch and later developing glaucoma, which now has left him blind in one eye. But ever the optimist, Puckett said he now enjoys his life more than ever, which mainly includes time with his wife, and son and daughter.

"My mother always used to tell me 'Where you're trying to go, I've already been,' and that's what I tell my kids," Puckett said. "I appreciate everything so much more now that I'm a little older. I enjoy watching my kids, smelling flowers, going fishing. I appreciate everything everyday."

Dave Winfield

Unlike Puckett, Winfield always seemed destined for success. The 6'6" Winfield is the only athlete to ever be drafted by the NFL, major league baseball, the NBA and the ABA.

Winfield selected baseball, and on June 19, 1973, just two weeks after being drafted, he was playing for the San Diego Padres, having made the rare jump from amateur baseball directly to the major leagues.

In 1980, he joined the New York Yankees and quickly became the target of many of hot-tempered owner George Steinbrenner's remarks, the most famous when he labeled Winfield "Mr. May" after an abysmal 1981 World Series performance.

Winfield finally got a chance to redeem himself in 1992, when as a member of the Toronto Blue Jays he played in the World Series against the Atlanta Braves. Like Puckett the year before, Winfield's heroics came in the 11th inning, also against the Braves Charlie Leibrandt, when he lined a two-run double down the left field line scoring what proved to be the game, and series, winning runs.

Winfield will be represented on his Hall of Fame plaque as a Padre, though he spent the most time with the Yankees, won the World Series with Toronto and got his 3,000th hit as a member of Puckett's Twins in 1993. Ironically, Winfield drove home Puckett when he singled off Dennis Eckersley for his 3,000th hit.

Winfield is only the third player, Willie Mays and Hank Aaron are the others, in baseball history to accumulate over 3,000 hits, 460 home runs and 200 stolen bases during their careers. He was a 12-time All Star and hit a career-high 37 home runs in 1982, and batted a career high .340 in 1984, losing the batting title on the final day of the regular season to teammate Don Mattingly.

Hilton Smith

Though Negro League statistics are incomplete at best, Smith is credited with winning 20 or more games in each of his 12 years with the Negro Leagues Kansas City Monarchs, including an astonishing record of 93-11 over a four year span from 1939 to 1942.

In 1941 he won 25 games with but one defeat, and, in league contests that year, was 10-0 in 19 games, allowing a league-low 39 hits in a league-best 89 innings. That season he also led the league in wins, shutouts (2) and saves (3). In a 1937 contest against the powerful Chicago American Giants, Smith pitched a no-hitter as just two balls were hit out of the infield.