For a quiet guy who hates the spotlight, Bill Mazeroski sure knows how to get attention.

Forty-one years ago, Mazeroski hit a home run in the bottom of the ninth inning of Game Seven of the 1960 World Series to give his Pittsburgh Pirates a 10-9 victory and World Series Championship over the New York Yankees.

In March, Mazeroski was elected into the National Baseball Hall of Fame by the Veteran's Committee, where he will be inducted Aug. 5 along with Dave Winfield, Kirby Puckett, and former Negro Leagues pitcher Hilton Smith.

"I'll probably give the shortest speech in history," Mazeroski joked Tuesday morning after touring the Hall of Fame on his orientation visit. "I'm not much of a talker. People always used to refer to me as 'the guy who hit that home run' and now in airports people are always yelling at me and saying congratulations. It still hasn't quite sunk in yet."

Despite the fact he was famous for the home run to win the 1960 World Series, Mazeroski was elected to the Hall of Fame based on his defensive statistics.

He turned more double plays, 1,706 to be exact, than any other middle infielder in the history of baseball, led the National League in major defensive categories 35 times during his career, and finished with a .983 fielding percentage at second base.

"I didn't think I hit enough to get in the Hall of Fame," Mazeroski, a career .260 hitter who had over 2,000 career hits, said. "I never expected people to see defense as that important. But turning a double play can be just as important as a grand slam, it just doesn't show up in the box score."

Mazeroski was credited with doing many of the "little things" to help win games that don't show up in box scores, and as a result was a 10-time National League All Star. Mazeroski had been to the Hall of Fame on a couple of occasions during his playing days when the Pirates played in the annual Hall of Fame Game, but said he never expected to be immortalized with baseball's greats when his career ended.

"I never ever dreamed of that," he said. "I think players dream of getting a chance to play in the big leagues, and maybe after their careers are over they take a look at the numbers and think 'maybe I have a chance."

Just as he never dreamed of the Hall of Fame, Mazeroski never thought of hitting a home run before his most memorable career at bat. The Pirates led the Yankees 9-7 heading to the ninth inning, but the Yankees scored two in the top of the ninth to tie the game at 9-9.

"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."

Mazeroski broke into the major leagues four years before his famous home run in 1956 at the age of 19. He played his entire career with another Hall of Famer, Roberto Clemente. Now 64, Mazeroksi said he spends his spare time alternating between his two favorite activities, golf and fishing.

"If I'm not hitting the golf ball well I go fishing, and if the fish aren't biting I go golfing," he said. "I still have to pinch myself a little when I realize I'm in the Hall of Fame."