Forbes Field Memories

by James K. Sayre

Forbes Field was the home of the Pittsburgh Pirates professional baseball team for many years, roughly from about 1910 to about 1970. As a youth, I got to go to a few home games in the mid-1950s, just before the Pirates finally started getting really good after a long hiatus, which dated back almost thirty years.

On an autumn afternoon, while in a freshman chemistry laboratory class at Carnegie Tech, which was just up the road from Forbes Field, we heard the roar of the crowd after Bill Mazeroski, the Pirates second baseman, hit his World Series winning home run in the bottom of the ninth inning in the seventh game of the 1960 World Series against the New York Yankees. This was October 10, 1960 and he hit the home run at 3:26 PM.

In 1951, Hollywood released a movie, Angels in the Outfield, which starred Forbes Field, Paul Douglas and Janet Leigh. The movie was filmed in Forbes Field, which many great shots, including some of the nearby University of Pittsburgh's Cathedral of Learning, which towered over the ball park. Some of the buildings of Carnegie Tech can be seen in the distance behind the grandstands behind the left-field line. Barbara Billingsly, one of the stars of the Leave it to Beaver television series, can be seen as a hat-check girl. There are also some cameo appearances by baseball stars.

 

 

End.

Bottlebrush Press has maintained its presence on the Internet since 1996.

Return to the home page of Bottlebrush Press: The homepage of Bottlebrush Press

This web page was recently created by James K. Sayre.

Contact author James K. Sayre at sayresayre@yahoo.com. Author's Email: sayresayre@yahoo.com

Copyright 2008 by Bottlebrush Press. All Rights Reserved.

Web page last updated on 7 June 2008.