Published: September 30, 2008 10:49 pm            

BRUCE'S HISTORY LESSON: Mays and the historic ‘Catch’

This week in 1954, the most famous defensive play in World Series history (and probably baseball history), took place when the New York Giants’ centerfielder, Willie Mays, caught a long fly ball hit by the Cleveland Indians’ Vic Wertz in the top of the eighth inning of game one of the ’54 World Series.

It has forever hence been dubbed “The Catch,” and film of this historic grab, which occurred in New York’s famous Polo Grounds, is re-played periodically to show succeeding generations of baseball fans why Mays is considered among the greatest ballplayers ever (I consider him the greatest ever).

To set the scene, the Indians were heavy favorites in the ’54 World Series, having compiled a 111-43 regular season record (percentage-wise, still best in American League history), and when Wertz came to bat in the eighth — with the score tied 2-2 — the Indians had Larry Doby on second and Al Rosen on first, with no outs.

Wanting a lefty to pitch to the left-handed Wertz, Giants manager Leo Durocher had replaced starting pitcher Sal Maglie with relief pitcher Don Liddle, who promptly grooved the fastball that Wertz crushed.

In centerfield, Mays took off at the crack of the bat, running as fast as he could until finally catching up to Wertz’s blast in front of the fence in right centerfield, where he made a spectacular over-the-shoulder catch not unlike a wide receiver in football.

Mays then turned and fired the ball toward second base, and although Doby had tagged up and made it to third, he had no chance to reach home, and Rosen was stuck at first.

Neither man would score in that inning, and the game subsequently went into extra innings, with the Giants eventually winning in the 10th. (As an aside, the story goes that Liddle, who, after Wertz’s blast, was immediately lifted for another reliever, returned to the dugout, grinned at his teammates and said, “Well, I did my job.”)

Many argue that Mays’ catch so demoralized the Indians that they were never the same, and as it happened, the Giants swept them in four games.

But what has become the main argument among baseball purists during the past 50 years is just how far Wertz’s blast actually traveled.



Estimates generally have ranged from 450-480 feet, but recent research, including studies of photographs and architectural renderings of the Polo Grounds, put the distance at no more than 420 feet.

Whatever the truth, in any other park but the Polo Grounds Wertz’s blast would have been a three-run homer. Then again, against any other centerfielder but Willie Mays it would have been, at the very least, a two-run — and probably game-winning — triple.

Bruce Kauffmann’s e-mail address is bruce@historylessons.net

        

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