The Catch (baseball)

The Catch: Willie Mays hauls in Vic Wertz's drive at the warning track in the 1954 World Series.

The Catch refers to a defensive play made by New York Giants center fielder Willie Mays on a ball hit by Cleveland Indians batter Vic Wertz on September 29, 1954, during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan, New York City.

The play

In the top of the 8th inning with the score tied 2–2,[1] Giants starting pitcher Sal Maglie walked Indians lead off hitter Larry Doby. Al Rosen singled, putting runners on first and second.[2] New York manager Leo Durocher summoned left-handed relief pitcher Don Liddle to pitch to Cleveland's Wertz, a left-handed batter.[2]

Wertz worked the count to two balls and one strike before hitting Liddle's fourth pitch approximately 420 feet to deep center field. In many stadiums the ball would have been a home run, which would have given the Indians a 5–2 lead. However, the Polo Grounds was larger than average, and Mays, who was playing in shallow center field, made an on-the-run, over-the-shoulder catch at the warning track for the out. Having caught the ball, he immediately spun and threw the ball. Doby, the runner on second, might have been able to score the go-ahead run had he tagged at the moment the ball was caught; as it was, he ran when the ball was hit, then had to scramble back to retag. Mays' throw went to second base, holding Cleveland to runners at first and third with one out.[2]

Right-hander Marv Grissom then relieved Liddle,[2] who supposedly remarked to pitching coach Freddie Fitzsimmons, "Well, I got my man."[3] Grissom walked pinch hitter Dale Mitchell to load the bases, then struck out pinch hitter Dave Pope, and got catcher Jim Hegan to fly out, ending the inning with no runs scored.[2]

Mays and Polo Grounds center field distance marker.
Summary – top of the 8th inning
Pitcher
New York Giants		 Batter
Cleveland Indians		 Result
(outs in bold)
Maglie (R)Doby (L)Walk
Rosen (R)Single (Doby to second)
Liddle (L)Wertz (L)Fly out to center (Doby to third)
Grissom (R)Mitchell (L)Walk (Rosen to second)
Pope (L)Strike out
Hegan (R)Fly out to left

Broadcast

Jack Brickhouse, calling the game on television for NBC, along with Russ Hodges, described Mays' catch to viewers. The audio has been published on CD with the book And the Fans Roared,[4] and also as accompaniment to the World Series film.

Diagram of the Polo Grounds from 1951

"There's a long drive waaay back in center field...waaay baaack, baaack, it is...caaaaaught by Wil-lie Mays!" [garbled – some say it sounds like "Say-Hey Mays"] [pause for crowd noise] "The runner on second, Doby, is able to tag and go to third; Willie Mays just brought this crowd to its feet...with a catch...which must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people. Boy!" [pause] "Notice where that 483 foot mark is in center field? The ball itself...Russ, you know this ballpark better than anyone else I know...had to go about 460, didn't it?"

"It certainly did, and I don't know how Willie did it, but he's been doing it all year."

There is some question of the depth of straight-away center field. Sometimes there was a 475 sign in center field, sometimes 483 (as was the case in 1954).[5] The ballpark was demolished in 1964, and it is unclear what was being measured when. One theory is that 475 was the distance to the front of the clubhouse overhang, and 483 was the distance to the rear wall under the overhang.[5] Regardless, the ball was not hit to the deepest part of center field; where Mays made his catch is estimated by baseball researchers as not more than 425 feet from home plate.[6]

Aftermath and response

The baseball glove that Willie Mays used in "the catch" on display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 2008.

The play prevented the Indians from taking the lead and, in the bottom of the 10th, the Giants won the game on their way to sweeping the Series. The Catch is often considered to be one of the best and most memorable plays in the history of baseball because of the difficulty of the play and the importance of the game itself.[7] Some have argued that The Catch is remembered so well in part because it was made in New York City, by a player for a New York team, and on television in a World Series game, whereas other catches (including many made by Mays) were less celebrated because they came in regular season games or in other cities.

Mays himself did not believe "The Catch" to be the best defensive play he ever made.[8][9] In the CD collection Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook, issued in 2006,[10] Mays talks about a running bare-handed catch he made at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in 1951, in which the Giants' players teased the young rookie by treating him with complete indifference when he returned to the bench. Mays used to cite a catch he made against the center field wall at Ebbets Field in Brooklyn, New York, in which he had to scurry back so fast he did not have time to turn around. Other observers have noted that Mays' quick relay throw from deep center field was the most important part of the 1954 play, the catch itself being merely a matter of Mays outrunning the ball.

In 2007, physicist Dr. Alan Nathan calculated that if the weather had been 77 °F rather than 76°, the ball would have traveled two inches farther than it did, and The Catch might not have been completed.[11][12]

References

  1. ↑ Bahr, Chris (September 29, 2015). "Flashback: Willie Mays makes 'The Catch' in 1954 World Series". Fox Sports. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 "New York Giants 5, Cleveland Indians 2". Retrosheet. September 29, 1954. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  3. ↑ Deane, Bill (2012). Baseball Myths: Debating, Debunking, and Disproving Tales from the Diamond. Scarecrow Press. p. 99. ISBN 9780810885462. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  4. ↑ Garner, Joe (October 1, 2000). And the Fans Roared: The Sports Broadcasts That Kept Us on the Edge of Our Seats. Sourcebooks MediaFusion. ISBN 978-1570715822.
  5. 1 2 Lowry, Phil (February 1992). Green Cathedrals: The Ultimate Celebrations of All 273 Major League and Negro League Ballparks Past and Present. Addison-Wesley. pp. 195–201. ISBN 0-201-56777-6.
  6. ↑ Deane, Bill (October 2005). "Catching up with Vic Wertz's 1954 World Series Drive". Baseball Digest. Retrieved May 9, 2017 – via The Glory of Baseball.
  7. ↑ Axisa, Mike (September 29, 2014). "Happy 60th Anniversary: Willie Mays makes 'The Catch'". CBS Sports. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  8. ↑ Morgan, Joe (May 4, 2001). "Mays was Mr. Everything". ESPN.com. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  9. ↑ "Not My Top Catch – Mays". Long Beach Independent. Long Beach, California. UPI. September 30, 1954. Retrieved May 9, 2017 – via newspapers.com.
  10. ↑ Harwell, Ernie (November 15, 2006). Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook. AudioBook Publishing, LLC. ISBN 978-0979212000.
  11. ↑ "Engineering in the News March 2007". UIUC College of Engineering. March 2007. Archived from the original on September 19, 2007. Retrieved June 22, 2016.
  12. ↑ Wolff, Alexander (March 12, 2007). "Going, Going Green". Sports Illustrated. Retrieved May 9, 2017 – via Sports Illustrated Vault.

Further reading

  • "Baseball's 25 Greatest Moments – No. 9 The Catch". The Sporting News. 1999. Archived from the original on October 13, 1999 – via archive.org.
  • "World Series Memorable Moments – No. 7 Willie Mays' Catch". Time. 2003. Archived from the original on December 11, 2003 – via archive.org.
  • Leptich, John (May 9, 2007). "Garagiola had bird's-eye view for Mays' famous catch". East Valley Tribune. Tempe, Arizona. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  • Perry, Dayn (January 10, 2014). "Photo of Day II: An uncommon angle on 'The Catch' by Willie Mays". CBS Sports. Retrieved May 9, 2017.
  • "Willie Mays makes an amazing over-the-shoulder catch". MLB.com – via YouTube. Willie Mays makes one of the most memorable plays in World Series history with an over-the-shoulder running catch in deep center field during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series
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