Born in Wheeling, West Virginia of Polish descent, Bill was the son of Mayme and Louis Mazeroski, who resided in Witch Hazel, Ohio, approximately 70 miles west of Pittsburgh. Louis had been a highly regarded baseball prospect himself -- he once had a tryout with the Cleveland Indians -- but a severe fall in a coal mine accident ruined his dream as well as his livelihood. Along with his parents and sister Mary, Mazeroski grew up in a small one-room house that lacked electricity and indoor plumbing. He often went by the name of Catfish because of a penchant for fishing, not because of any real passion for the sport but to put food on the table.