The Catch
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For other uses, see The Catch (disambiguation).
The Catch refers to a memorable defensive baseball play on September 29, 1954, during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds in New York. The score was tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning. Starting pitcher Sal Maglie walked Larry Doby and gave up a single to Al Rosen. So, with runners on first and second, Giants manager Leo Durocher summoned lefty relief pitcher Don Liddle to replace Maglie and pitch to Cleveland's Vic Wertz, also a left-hander.
Wertz worked the count to two balls and a strike, before crushing Liddle's fourth pitch to deep center field. Some reports say the ball traveled 450 feet, which is an exaggeration, but in many stadiums the shot would have been a home run, giving the Indians a 5-2 lead. However, this was the spacious Polo Grounds and Giants center fielder Willie Mays, who was playing in, made an on-the-run, over-the-shoulder catch (looking like a wide receiver) to make the out. Having caught the ball, he immediately spun and threw the ball, losing his hat in characteristic style. 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; but as it was, he ran when the ball was hit, and then had to scramble back to retag and only got as far as third base. Liddle was then relieved by Marv Grissom, to whom he supposedly remarked "Well, I got my man!"
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. Many people have argued, however, that The Catch is remembered so well 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. Certainly, Mays himself did not believe "The Catch" to be the best defensive play he ever made.[1]
[edit] See also
- Immaculate Reception
- The Catch (American football)
- Hand of God goal
- The Drive
- The Flip
- The Shot
- The Fumble
- Shot Heard 'Round the World (baseball)
- The Play
[edit] External links
- TIME's World Series Memorable Moment #7: The Catch
- The Sporting News's 25 Greatest Moments in Baseball #9: The Catch
[edit] Sources
- Shortly after the 1954 Series, Arnold Hano wrote a book called A Day in the Bleachers, describing the game from his vantage point in the Polo Grounds cheap-seats. He devoted an entire chapter to The Catch (and The Throw that followed it), describing everything that was going on in his head and in the stadium as the ball traversed its high arc from far away at home plate to near where the writer sat. At first, it looked like an easy catch; then, as Mays continued his full-tilt sprint, the writer became certain it was going to be over his head; then he became equally certain that Mays would outrun it: "For the second time, I knew Mays would make the catch." That fascinating and unique chapter was reproduced in one entry in The Fireside Book of Baseball series, along with an abridged collection of that series called The Baseball Reader. Hano would also go on to write a biography of Willie Mays along with his other books on sports figures and events. The 1954 book was reissued in a 50th anniversary edition in 2004 and its ISBN is given at least one website as 030681322X.
- A book called The Fans Roared, published in 2000, contains an audio capture of this play as described by World Series TV announcer Jack Brickhouse along with regular Giants announcer Russ Hodges. Brick is a little hard to hear over the screams of the crowd at the moment of the catch, but shortly afterward as the crowd settled down he said, "Willie Mays just brought this crowd to its feet with a catch that must have looked like an optical illusion to a lot of people!" He would go on to use that expression in the World Series film of this classic sports moment.
