The Best Game Ever

First the disclaimer: It is ridiculous to label one game “the best game ever.”

On the other hand, it can certainly be argued that game seven of the 1960 World Series was great fun, especially for fans of the Pittsburgh Pirates. That game ended a series in which the Yankees had buried the Pirates in three games on the strength of ferocious hitting, and in which the Pirates had managed to prevail in the other three on clutch pitching. Game seven, which was remarkably brisk for a 10-9 affair, featured several lead changes. It included a potential double play ball that jumped up and clocked Tony Kubek in the throat…a bounce that was spectacularly unlucky or lucky, depending on which team you were supporting. And of course it ended in the bottom of the ninth with a homerun by Bill Mazeroski, a shot heard very clearly around Allegany County, if not the world.

Jim Reisler’s The Best Game Ever is an enthusiastic retelling of the events of the 1960 series. It includes some exploration of the personalities and circumstances of some of the ballplayers involved, and a moving description of how much the game still means to a small number of people in Pittsburgh who still gather each October 13th to celebrate the day their Pirates prevailed over Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Casey Stengel, and the myth that was the invulnerable Yankees.