Bill Mazeroski authored the most famous moment in Pittsburgh sports history, his World Series-clinching home run in 1960 celebrated in statue form outside of PNC Park, the iconic blast regularly popping up on lists that rank this sort of stuff.
Yet when Mazeroski would look to his right and see Dick Groat, it was the Pirates Hall of Fame second baseman who was truly blown away. A two-sport star at Duke, Groat continually impressed Mazeroski with his athletic prowess and steadiness.
“He always knew where they’d hit it and where to be,” Mazeroski said. “His mind was so good. To have talent and throw it away, he didn’t do that. He got more out of his talent than anybody ever has.”
A member of the Pirates’ 1960 World Series team who remained a part of Western Pennsylvania sports culture for half a century, Groat died early Thursday morning at UPMC Presbyterian Hospital due to complications from a recent stroke. He was 92.
Groat was recently announced as an inductee into the Pirates Hall of Fame for the Class of 2023.
“We are deeply saddened by the loss of such a beloved member of the Pirates family and Pittsburgh community,” Pirates owner Bob Nutting said in a statement. “Dick remained a very active and cherished member of our Alumni Association. We were honored to have just recently informed Dick and his family that he had been selected to the Pirates Hall of Fame. He was a great player and an even better person. Our thoughts go out to his three daughters, 11 grandchildren and the entire Groat family. His was a life well-lived. He will be missed.”
Groat, a native of Swissvale, spent nine of his 14 seasons as a major league shortstop with the Pirates and won the National League MVP award after hitting .325 in 1960.
A two-sport athlete at Duke, Groat was a two-time All-American in baseball and basketball and briefly juggled professional baseball and basketball careers before committing himself to the diamond full time.
Mazeroski was Groat’s longtime double-play partner and marveled at how Groat was the same guy every day: win or lose, good game or bad game, and even later in life as they both grew in age.
“He was the same guy all his life,” Mazeroski said. “He never changed. I enjoyed playing with him. He showed me a lot of things. We talked a lot around second base when he and I were there. A lot of good stuff. He didn’t brag about anything. He never talked about himself. It was just a routine day every day.”
It also wasn’t a routine focused solely on one sport. In addition to his baseball excellence, Groat was college basketball’s National Player of the Year after becoming the first player to lead the country in scoring (26.0 points per game) and assists (7.6).
Most incredibly, Groat made his MLB debut with the Pirates in 1952, the same year he was selected No. 3 overall by the Fort Wayne Pistons in the NBA draft. Groat is one of only 13 athletes who played in both the NBA and MLB.
“How does that happen?” Steve Blass wondered aloud, before making it known where Groat ranks among Pittsburgh-born athletes. “There’s Dick Groat ... and everybody else. You’ve gotta have your act together to be able to play those two sports. This is one hell of an athlete.”
Groat’s career mark of 23 points per game still ranks second all-time at Duke, behind only Art Heyman and ahead of J.J. Redick, Christian Laettner and Danny Ferry. He was the first Blue Devil to have his No. 10 jersey retired, in 1952.
Groat was inducted into the College Basketball Hall of Fame in 2007 and the National College Baseball Hall of Fame in 2011. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was the one to inform Groat he would enter the college basketball Hall of Fame.
“The Lord was good to me,” Groat told the Post-Gazette in November 2021. “He gave me a good pair of legs, a good set of hands and arms. I was also blessed with a great mother and father and family. I’ve been awfully fortunate to do the things I have done.”
From 1979 until 2019, Groat served as a radio analyst for Pitt basketball games.
“As great of a sports legend as Dick was, he was a better human being,” Pitt broadcaster Bill Hillgrove told the Post-Gazette. “... I think his humility stood out above everything. If anybody should’ve been carried away with himself, it was Dick Groat. He’s obviously, to me, the best athlete our state has ever produced. As many great athletes as Pennsylvania has produced, none played two sports at the highest level, except Dick. He was a very special friend. I lost a big brother.”
In 14 seasons — spread across 16 years due to two years of military service — with the Pirates, St. Louis Cardinals, Philadelphia Phillies and San Francisco Giants, Groat hit .286 and made the All-Star team in five seasons (because of baseball’s barnstorming efforts, Groat played in multiple All-Star Games in three seasons). He finished third in the Rookie of the Year voting in 1952, when at age 21 he hit .284, and received MVP votes in four different seasons.
“We never played together in the big leagues, but I was in spring training with him when I was 18,” Blass said. “I looked at him and learned that you didn’t have to be a physical giant to play. You didn’t have to have enormous power or size. Gut feel and mental approach is just as important as the physical stuff. That’s so critical. He played with his mind as much as with his body.”
Groat was the youngest of Martin and Gracie Groat’s five children. He attended Swissvale High School before heading to Duke on a basketball scholarship.
Before the 1951-52 basketball season, Groat’s senior year, Pirates general manager Branch Rickey invited Groat and his parents to a game at Forbes Field and offered him a contract.
“‘Young man, if you will sign a contract tonight, I’m going to start you against the Cincinnati Reds tomorrow night,’” Rickey told Groat, according to an interview Groat gave to Duke’s web site in 2014. “I said, ‘Mr. Rickey, that’s not even fair. You know I want to play major league baseball, but I owe my senior year to Duke and I am going back to play basketball and baseball. But I promise you, you make the same offer to me next spring and I will sign with the Pittsburgh Pirates.’”
Rickey did, and Groat signed.
Groat never played a game in the minor leagues. He joined the Pirates immediately after signing and played in 95 games in 1952. For a season, Groat tried to balance baseball and basketball.
But when Groat was drafted into the Army, his pro basketball career was cut short. He stayed sharp by playing baseball while serving at Fort Belvoir in Virginia in 1953-54, and when he left the service he focused on baseball. It helped that the Pirates doubled his salary.
Groat played in 151 games in 1955, his first season back. He hit .315 in 1957 and made his first All-Star team in ’59. He took off in 1960, hitting .325 with a .371 on-base percentage, and won the MVP despite missing most of September because of a broken wrist.
Though he only batted .214 during the 1960 World Series, which the Pirates won in seven games against the New York Yankees, Groat went 1 for 4 with an RBI in Game 7. His eighth-inning RBI single pulled the Pirates to within 7-5, and he scored, along with Roberto Clemente, on Hal Smith’s homer later in the inning.
“That 1960 team was unique,” Groat said in November 2021. “They all were just natural winners. They wanted to win. Nobody got tired. Nobody was out of the lineup. That was an unbelievable year.”
Groat played for the Pirates until 1962, when they traded him to the Cardinals. In 1963, after batting .319 with a .377 OBP and leading the majors with 43 doubles, Groat finished second in MVP voting, trailing only Sandy Koufax of the Dodgers.
Groat won another ring with the Cardinals, in 1964, also against the Yankees. After 1964, Groat spent three more seasons in the majors before retiring after the 1967 season, at age 36.
In conjunction with former Pirates teammate Jerry Lynch, Groat converted an apple orchard into Champion Lakes Golf Resort in Bolivar in 1966.
"A legend and an icon, and has meant so much to not just our basketball program, but the entire city of Pittsburgh,” Pitt athletics director Heather Lyke said. “On behalf of the athletic department, we want to send our condolences to his family."
Groat is survived by his daughters Tracey, Carol Ann and Allison, along with 11 grandchildren.
Post-Gazette Pitt reporter Noah Hiles contributed to this report. Former P-G writer Bill Brink also contributed.
First Published: April 27, 2023, 2:23 p.m.
Updated: April 27, 2023, 8:06 p.m.
