Bill Mazeroski Has Passed Away at 89

I normally try to stay away from posting about player deaths because it just gets too depressing for someone who focuses their collection on the old timers that played in the 1950's - 1970's.

But Bill Mazeroski is especially noteworthy for this blog.  Not just because he was one of the best Second Basemen to ever play the game, or because he hit one of the most famous home runs, but because he was especially fan-friendly and a generous signer.

Even at 89 years old, he continued to answer his fan mail, signing whatever his fans sent his way for a nominal fee ($10 for cards) and always did a great job.

I believe his grandson, Billy, helped him with his mail and ran his eBay store.  I communicated with Billy only once.  I purchased a signed bobblehead from their eBay site.  It arrive broken.  Both legs cleanly broken off at the ankles.  I sent Billy  a note and a picture of it via eBay, and he immediately refunded my money and apologized.  It still sits on my windowsill in pieces since I haven't gotten around to try to glue it back together.

I've never heard a negative comment about Bill Sr., or read any anecdotes about him being anything but extremely friendly and pleasant to his fans.  These days, I think that has to be extremely difficult, since there is definitely a subset of the collecting world that is quite crazy.  They are impossible to satisfy and complain about every little thing.  I would think somewhere along the way I would have heard one of these collectors share a story in which they felt disrespected, shortchanged or somehow abused.  But, I haven't.

I never had the opportunity to meet him in person, but I participated in several mail in signings and sent directly to him through the mail.  Often.  Really often.  If you scroll through this blog, you'll see returns from him arriving about monthly over the last year or two and the vast majority of my requests occurring in the last five years, which is when he really became a consistent signer.

I sent to him 40 times over 23 years.  The very first request was never returned.  He wasn't always a reliable signer.  He was pretty spotty for many years and a successful return from him was a pleasant surprise.  My first success came in September of 2004 when he signed his 1958 Topps for my newly-started set collection.  I had enclosed $5 with my request and  was thrilled and amazed to get it back!

His returns were so spotty that I didn't bother sending him another request until 2021!  Looking through his history on sportscollectors.net, it was as if someone flipped a switch and all of a sudden he started returning every request.  It is very obvious while looking at his history.  From 10/27/2020 on, he was automatic.

I have a good variety of items signed by him.  A couple baseballs, a bat, and a 16x20 photo of him hitting his famous home run in 1960 (also signed by Johnny Blanchard, who was catching at the time).

One of the more recent items I got signed was an early 1960's souvenir Pirate's bobblehead.  These are made of paper mache  and are very fragile.  I was happy to receive it in one piece when I bought it originally, then happy it survived the handling by him and the promoter as well as the round trip via the USPS.

I have a more modern bobblehead signed (not the one that was broken during shipping which I don't have a picture of).  I sent this one to him ttm, but to make it easier on him and to avoid damage, I removed and sent just the head.   It's kind of like sending a small baseball rather than a whole bobblehead.

I sent him a few magazines and programs.

In late 2024, I purchased a signed ice cream helmet from his eBay store.

He was the first player to sign a Grand Slam print for me.

He signed a Hall of Fame plaque postcard for me ttm in the spring of 2024.

And all sorts of cards.  I believe I have every Topps card from his playing days and a bunch of oddball cards such as the East Hills Shopping Center, Kahn's Weiners, an Exhibit card, a 1961 Bazooka, a 1964 Topps Stand Up, and some modern Heritage relic cards and some Allen & Ginters. I'm just going to dump them here in no particular order.

Mazeroski really made collecting fun for me by always providing a timely, quality autograph for a very reasonable price.  He is on so many cards that it was fun to discover cards I never knew existed like the Kahn's Weiners and East Hills cards.

He was part of not only a great baseball team in 1960, but a great signing team.  The Pirates of the early 60's were, and are, great friends to autograph collectors.  Guys who have passed away include Gino Cimoli, Bob Friend, recently deceased Elroy Face, Dick Groat, Clem Labine, Bob Oldis, Dick Schofield and Bill Virdon.

There is still a few great signers left from that team.  Bennie Daniels, Vern Law and Bob Skinner are still around and are great to their fans.

Between 2003 and 2006, I worked on a 1960 Pirates team ball through the mail.  I ended up with 16 signatures on the ball, with Mazeroski being the last.  I got too scared to send it out after that, fearing it would be lost or damaged in the mail.  Here are the pictures of the ball as it progressed and in order of who signed it.

The signatures include (in order):

1. Bob Skinner
2. Dick Schofield
3. Elroy Face
4. Bill Virdon
5. Bennie Daniels
6. Gino Cimoli (signed in red ink first, then signed over that with blue.  Every project has at least one weird anomaly).
7. Hal Smith
8. Vern Law
9. Bob Friend
10. Bob Oldis
11. Mickey Vernon
12. Dick Groat
13. Joe Gibbon
14. Clem Labine
15. Rocky Nelson
16. ...and then 18 months later, Bill Mazeroski.

That's more than enough of my Bill Mazeroski autograph collection.  I'm sure I had way more fun writing this up and reminiscing about my collection than you did reading about it.  But, if you hung in there and read the whole thing: Thank You!