The Pirates jumped in front in the bottom of the first when 1B Rocky Nelson poled a two-run homer off Yankee starter Bob Turley. Bullet Bob departed after one batter in the second when the Bucs started another two-run rally.

Pitching on an injured ankle, Pirates' ace Vern Law shut the Yankees down until the fifth when 1B Bill Skowron sliced a homer to deep right field.

When 2B Bobby Richardson singled, and SS Tony Kubek walked to start the sixth, Pirate manager Danny Murtaugh brought in his ace reliever Elroy Face, known for his excellent forkball. The 5'8" righty led the National League in appearances with 68 and fin­ished 61, also tops in the league.

Pitching for the fourth time in the Series, Face showed signs of a tired arm. He started by getting RF Roger Maris to pop out. But CF Mickey Mantle singled up the middle to score Richardson. Face tried to slip a fastball past Berra, but Yogi drilled a towering fly that landed in the upper deck just inside the right field foul pole to give the Yankees the lead and end Law's quest to become a three-game Series winner. Normally not prone to excessive displays, Berra leapt as he rounded first and saw the ball go into the stands. Yankees 5 Pirates 4

Diminutive southpaw Bobby Shantz set the Pirates down 1-2-3 for the fourth straight inning.

The Yankees added two runs to their lead in the top of the 8th against Face but would regret not scoring more. Berra drew a two-out walk. Skowron and C Johnny Blanchard followed with singles to plate one run. Then 3B Clete Boyer doubled down the left field line. Stengel made a crucial decision when he let Shantz hit for himself. But Bobby poked an easy liner to RF Roberto Clemente to strand the two runners. Yankees 7 Pirates 4

Gino Cimoli hit for Face and looped a single into short right-centerfield. Then came one of the most eventful plays of the game. Virdon hit a tailor-made double play ball right at Kubek. But at the last moment, the ball, hit something - a pebble? a clod of dirt? an an­gel's toe? - and shot up into Tony's throat. He dropped to the ground as both batter and runner reached safely.

Virdon: "I hit the ball well, but I hit the ball right at Tony. I thought, 'Oh,heck, a double play.' Fortunately, there was a clump of dirt out of place, a pebble or something, and just as he got ready to field the ball, it took a quick, short hop that wasn't expected, and it hit him in the throat, directly in the Adam's apple. Instead of the double play, I ended up getting a single, and we had two runners on and nobody out. There's no question it would have been a double play."

After the trainer attended to him for several minutes, Kubek reluctantly left the game. Kubek recalled years later: "It was a terrible infield. It was like the beach at Normany, half sand, half pebbles, and they never dragged it." Joe DeMaestri took over at shortstop.

SS Dick Groat whacked a 1-1 pitch between Boyer and the new shortstop to send Ci­moli home from second. Virdon stopped there. Despite the fact that two left-handed hit­ters were up next, Stengel brought in a righthander, Jim Coates, to replace Shantz. Coates had pitched two scoreless inn­ings in Game 4.

Bob Skinner sacrified the runners to second and third. Nelson lifted a fly into short right field, but Virdon couldn't advance as Maris whipped the ball in. Coates now had a chance to get out of the inning without further damage, but he would have to retire the Pirates' best player, Clemente.

Coates jumped ahead of Roberto 0-2. After fouling off a pitch and taking a ball, Cle­mente reached out for a curve and hit a high chopper between the mound and first. Coates at first ran toward the ball. Then, when he realized Skowron would field it, devia­ted and headed toward the bag. But it was too late. Moose didn't bother to toss the ball as Clemente reached safely, Virdon scoring from third as a roar erupted from the crowd. It appeared that the batter would have been safe even if Coates had run straight to the bag.

That brought up C Hal Smith, who had replaced Smoky Burgess behind the plate in the top of the inning after Smoky gave way to a pinch runner. Knowing Smith liked low pitch­es, Coates planned to "climb the ladder," hoping to get him to swing at a high hard one and pop up. At the plate, Hal repeated to himself, "Meet the ball. Meet the ball."

With the count 1-2, Smith started to go for a ball over his head but checked his swing. In those days, the home plate didn't routinely ask the first base umpire for help on such plays. Umpire Bill Jackowski ruled ball two - another "what if?" moment in a game filled with them.

Given new life, Smith smashed a low fastball over the left field wall to score three runs. As Coates watched the ball vanish, he flung his glove high in the air. Smith: "It just felt like another home run until I rounded second and started for third and saw the people. They were on top of the dugout. Then it dawned on me. I got quite excited."

Mel Allen on the TV broadcast: "The fans go wild in Pittsburgh as Hal Smith slams a long drive 425' over the left field wall scoring Groat and Clemente ahead of him. ... One of the most dramatic base hits in the history of the World Se­ries. ... That base hit will long be remembered."

Chuck Thompson on the radio broadcast: "We have seen and shared in one of base­ball's great moments. Hal Smith has just hit a home run to put the Pirates in front by a score of 9 to 7." Thompson's partner, Jack Quinlan, agreed. "I'm almost speechless. This is one of the most dramatic home runs of all time! Five runs are in, and the Pirates again have the lead. A tremen­dous wallop by Smith ... and the only reason that he was playing is that Burgess had been taken out earlier for a pinch-runner. ... Smith has deli­vered the cruelest blow ... When Smith got to the dugout, it's a wonder he could stand up ... he was pummelled by his teammates."

Ralph Terry replaced Coates and got 3B Don Hoak to fly to left to finally end the five-run uprising. Pirates 9 Yankees 7

Bob Friend, Murtaugh's second best starter, took the mound for Pittsburgh to face the Yankees' 1-2-3 hit­ters. Having been the loser in Games 2 and 6, Friend had a chance for redemption. He didn't feel tired. "You can rest all winter," Murtaugh told him. But Bob lasted only four pitches.

Richardson looped a single into left-center field–his eleventh hit in the Series. Former Pirate Dale Long, a lefthanded batter, hit for DeMaestri. Long lined a 1-1 pitch into right field for a single, sending Richardson to second. Murtaugh brought in his fourth hurler, southpaw Harvey Haddix, to face Maris. The strategy worked as Maris popped to Smith behind the plate.

Mantle, batting righthanded, lined the second pitch over Mazeroski's head for a single that drove Richardson home from second and sent the tying run, Long, to third. The blow was Mickey's third hit of the game and tenth of the Series, and the RBI was #11. Gil Mc­Dougald took Long's place on third.

Smith had a brief chat with Haddix as Berra strode to the dish. Yankee fans couldn't ask for anyone better at the plate in such a crucial situation. Yogi drove the 2-0 pitch into the ground to 1B Nelson. For a fleeting moment, the Yankees thought Berra had smash­ed a double down the line to tie the game and possibly score Mantle with the go-ahead run as well. But Rocky made an outstanding backhand stop on the base to retire Yogi. As he turned to throw to second to get Mantle, Mickey, only 6' or so off the bag, dove back to first. Surprised, Nelson didn't get the tag down in time as the tying run scored. The "ama­zing turn of events," as Allen called it, gave Berra 36 RBI for his career, a World Series record.

Years later, Mantle explained that he started for second when Berra hit the grounder but knew that Nelson "had me dead either way. So I ducked down and went underneath as he tried to tag me." Nelson: "I took one step off the bag with Berra up; I couldn't take two steps off. The ball went over the bag and was in foul territory when I grabbed it."

In a New York Times article on the 50th anniversary of the game, C Smith revealed that he thought Nelson was going to throw home so he could tag McDougald and end the game. "I thought we had a shot at McDou­gald." Hal also said he asked Nelson a few years after the play why he didn't throw home. Rocky told him, "To be truthful, I didn't see you." Smith added, "I understand Rocky's position. He sees a runner right there and thinks he can get him. He thought he could get Mantle."

Skowron bounced into a forceout to end the inning and set the stage for one of the most famous at-bats in baseball history. Yankees 9 Pirates 9

Mazeroski, the leadoff batter in the bottom of the ninth, recalled: "When we trotted off the field for our turn at bat in the ninth, I was thinking, 'I'd like to hit a home run and win it all.' The time before, in the seventh inning, I had gone for the long ball and I overswung. I grounded into a double play. This time, I kept saying to myself, 'Don't overswing. Just meet the ball.'"

Terry returned to the mound to face Mazeroski. C Blanchard: "I had played against Mazeroski in the minor leagues. I knew he could hit that high ball. If you throw Bill a fast ball between the letters and the belt, he'll take you downtown."

First pitch: High slider. Ball one.

Blanchard on the first pitch: "It was just about an inch above the letters ... I just closed my eyes back there and put my mitt up there and let the ball stick. I said, 'I'm glad he didn't swing.' So I called time and went out to Terry and said, 'Hey, listen, ... keep the ball down on this guy because, if you don't, we're going home early.' So he said, 'OK.'"

Second pitch: A fast ball a couple of inches lower than the first one. Mazeroski got hold of it and slammed it over the 406' sign in left-center field to win the World Series! Pitts­burghers would long remember both the date and the time: 3:37 PM. Terry threw his glove and stomped off the mound as fans poured from the stands. Pirates 10 Yankees 9

Mazeroski: "The first one was a high slider. The next one was down a little, but still high–a fastball right into my power. A moment after I hit the ball, a shiver ran down by back."

Berra: "I didn't think the ball was going out. I turned around, and I was going to play it off the wall. I was going to play the carom off the wall. ... If a guy hits a home run, you start walking in. But I didn't think this one was going out. I turned back after it went over the wall."

Mazeroski: "When I hit it, I wasn't sure if it was going out. I knew Yogi was­n't going to catch it. ..." On his trip around the bases: "It was the first time I ever showed emotion on the field. I couldn't hold it down this time. We beat the Yankees, and I always hated the Yankees. They were always beating my Cleveland Indians. ... People say to me, 'You beat the Yankees.' But we beat the Yankees. It was the whole Pirates team."

Terry in 2004: "I remember the pitch to Mazeroski. It was high–not high enough to be a ball, but right at the letters, exactly where Mazeroski liked it. I knew that he was a good high ball hitter, but I could not get the pitch down where I wanted it. After the first pitch, which was way up, Johnny Blan­chard came out and told me to keep it down. Heck, I knew that. You have to remember that Casey Stengel had me warming up four or five times during the game. I was already tired when I came in to nail down the final out in the eighth inning.

"I felt bad after the game, not for me but for Casey. I went into his office, and he was taking off his uniform. He asked me about the pitch. Why did I leave it up high? Didn't I know the scouting report on Maze­roski? I told Casey I knew exactly what I was supposed to do but that I just couldn't get the ball down. That was okay with Casey. 'As long as you were­n't goin' against the scouting report. If it was just a physical mistake, that's fine.' That's all he said. I don't think it hit me at the time, but it turned out that I was the last person to see Casey wearing the Yankee pinstripes."

Two days after the Series, Yankees owner Dan Topping called a press conference and announced Casey Stengel's retirement because of his advanced age. Topping's attorney prepared a speech that Stengel dutifully read. When he finished, Joe Reichler, the base­ball editor of the Associated Press, said, "Casey, tell us the truth. Were you fired?"

"You're goddamn right I was fired," the feisty 70-year-old replied.