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From left to right: Gaylord Perry, Brooks Robinson, Cal Ripken Jr., Ollie's Bargain Outlet president and CEO Mark Butler and Jim Rice discuss Wednesday's Ollie's Celebrity Golf Open, a fund-raising event featuring nearly three dozen former major league baseball players invited to Harrisburg by the Major League Baseball Players Alumni Association to support the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation. Proceeds from the event, held at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club, expected to exceed more than $330,000, will be used to help renovate three development parks in Maryland and fund baseball and softball programs throughout the country.

(Michael Bullock, PennLive.com)

Bill Mazeroski may have been running slightly behind Wednesday morning, but the 77-year-old Hall of Fame second baseman certainly is up to speed and current on all things involving the playoff-bound Pittsburgh Pirates.

And why not?

Mazeroski spent his entire 17-year major league career (1956-1972) with the Pirates, banging out more than 2,000 career hits while making 10 all-star teams and winning eight Gold Gloves for his fielding prowess at second base.

Eventually, in 2001, Mazeroski was elected to baseball's Hall of Fame.

Mazeroski, however, is undoubtedly remembered for the walkoff home run he launched off the New York Yankees' Ralph Terry in the bottom of the ninth inning that won Game 7 of the 1960 World Series for the Pirates.

Hall of Fame shortstop and former Baltimore Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr. converses with former Montreal Expos pitcher Steve Rogers moments before teeing off on the first hole at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club in suburban Harrisburg.

Still involved with the Pirates as an infield instructor at spring training, Mazeroski was in Harrisburg for the Ollie's Bargain Outlet Celebrity Open at Colonial Golf and Tennis Club, a fund-raising event supporting the Cal Ripken Sr. Foundation.

Although Mazeroski was dressed and ready to play 18, understandably the discussion turned to baseball.

With the Pirates obviously becoming the topic of choice.

"It's about time after 20 years," Mazeroski said of the Pirates clinching a postseason invite and halting a forgettable string of 20 consecutive seasons with a losing record. "It's been a long time. [The people in Pittsburgh] don't know how to act. They don't even know how to celebrate a winner any more.

"Hope it keeps up for a while."

At least into late October, when long-suffering Pirates fans hope to see their favorite team playing in the World Series for the first time since 1979.

"With the pitching they've got, if they get hot with the bats a little bit they can do anything," added Mazeroski, who also won a World Series ring in 1971 when the Pirates defeated the Baltimore Orioles in seven games.

"They've got as good a pitching staff as anyone in baseball, I thought. All around — the bullpen and the starting pitching. They've been great this year."

Former Orioles great Cal Ripken Jr., another of the baseball Hall of Famers on hand, agrees with Mazeroski's assessment.

"Pittsburgh's a really, really interesting team," Ripken said. "[Manager] Clint Hurdle's brought a lot of leadership, they've continued to stockpile their talent over the years, they made a couple of key trades here at the end to bolster their offense.

"Marlon Byrd's swinging the bat well. And I like that Justin Morneau, even though he hasn't produced the home run, I still like that quality bat in the lineup. But to me, the difference is the power arms in their bullpen," Ripken continued.

"Seeing [closer Jason] Grilli get back kind of put that bullpen back in line with the way it was in the first half. They've got a lot of talent, a lot of power arms so they can do some damage in the playoffs. It's one of those teams you want to root for.

"They're the underdog, but they're a good, quality team. Don't think they just won and they broke the streak when they won 81 games, they're one of the teams that should be reckoned with and they could go deep in the playoffs."

That's why the 53-year-old Ripken, scheduled to work the National League Championship Series for TBS alongside Ernie Johnson and Ron Darling, is trying to learn as much as he can about Hurdle's resilient Pirates.

A team that's revitalized Pittsburgh's long-suffering baseball fans.

"It's good to hear people talk good about the Pirates again and not [being] the cheapest club in the world and all that kind of stuff," Mazeroski said. "It's really been great.

"You can't believe it. Everywhere you go in Pittsburgh people are talking, it's not all Steelers any more. It's Pittsburgh now. It's good. They sold more shirts and more stuff than the Steelers did this year and that's a first for a long, long time."

Of course, it's been a long time since the Pirates won and won a lot.

For the Boston Red Sox, the highly successful franchise Jim Rice played 16 seasons for, winning has become a constant. Might not have been the case in 2012, when the Red Sox endured a disastrous season, but 2013 rendered a remarkable resurgence and ... what followed was the American League East pennant.

"When you're talking about last year compared to this year [it's a] totally different team," said Rice, another of the Hall of Famers who checked into Harrisburg for a fund-raising event featuring nearly three dozen retired major league players.

"Going from last place to first place, the momentum is there," continued the 60-year-old Rice, who bashed 382 home runs and collected more than 2,450 career hits during a 16-year run with the Red Sox that ended in 1989. Rice entered the Hall in 2009. "Overall, they've come a long way. They won the American League East."

Added Ripken: "It's a good story."

Red Sox, Pirates, they're both good stories.

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