In Game One of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians, the score was tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth when Larry Doby, the second African American player to sign a major league contract, drew a walk, and Al Rosen singled, moving Doby to second.
Giants manager Leo Durocher brought in a reliever, Don Liddle, to pitch to first baseman Vic Wertz, a power hitter who was often in the top ten in home runs. But Wertz had not had a good year, and center fielder Willie Mays, who had just returned from serving two years in military that year, moved up a few paces. But with two balls and a strike, Wertz got every bit of the next pitch, and it headed for dead center field, which in the Polo Grounds, the Giants’ home field, meant the wall was a whopping 420 feet away.
The blast would have been a home run in most parks of that day, but Mays took off the moment he saw where it was headed, and thanks to his tremendous speed, reached out as far as he could stretch, and caught it.
Mays’ play became known simply as ‘The Catch,’ and is still considered one of the best plays ever made in baseball history, for a couple of reasons. The reason most people talk about is the fact that Mays had the presence of mind to realize that even if he caught the ball, he was so far away from the infield that there was a good chance Doby could still score once he tagged up. So the instant the ball his Mays’ glove, he whirled around and threw a strike to second base, preventing Doby from even advancing to third.
This was what made Willie Mays special. It’s clear when you watch the play that the whole time he’s tracking that ball, he’s thinking more about the fact that he needs to make that throw than he is about catching the ball. It was this mental awareness and instinct, both in the field and on the base paths, that most baseball pundits talk about when they describe what made Mays special.
When you add to that his incredible physical gifts—his immense power, his speed, and his incredible throwing arm, it’s the reason Mays is called one of the original ‘five tool’ players, defined by baseball fans as speed, hitting for power, hitting for average, ability to throw, and the ability to play the field.
But here’s the thing about ‘The Catch’ that I believe truly makes it special. I think there are catches that have been made since Mays that are more spectacular athletically. The best catch I’ve ever seen was made by Los Angeles Angels center fielder Jim Edmonds, who, much like Mays, sprinted after a fly ball that was going directly over his head and actually dove, reaching out to catch the ball just as his body hit the ground.
There have been several other amazing catches where players went up over the wall and pulled a ball that was clearly going out back into play, with the most amazing examples being New York Mets outfielder Endy Chavez’s catch of a Scott Rolen home run in game seven of the National League Championship Series in 2006, or when Seattle Mariners right fielder Ichiro Suzuki literally climbed the wall to rob Garrett Anderson of a home run on May 5, 2005.
These were all catches that I would consider more athletic plays than the catch Mays made. But aside from the fact that Mays’ catch was in the World Series, and helped them win the game, which they won 5-2 in extra innings, but what really give the Mays catch the greatest of all time was that, up until then, nobody had ever seen anything like it before. Ever since that day, whenever a baseball player anywhere in America makes an amazing catch, it’s almost certain to be compared to “The Catch.”
That is what sets the most incredible athletes apart from very good athletes, when they have the vision and the imagination to believe that they could do something nobody has ever done before. Even when you read about Mays’ catch, or listen to the broadcast, there has never been any mention that I’ve ever seen where they compare Mays’ catch to any catch made before. It was the first of its kind.
And of course, what also makes it special is that it was made by the best to ever play the game. So if Vic Wertz had made that catch, people might talk about it for years to come, but it would not become the legend it is, because Vic Wertz wasn’t a legend. In the case of Willie Mays, it was just one example of many where he did something that may have seemed impossible.
I wasn’t born yet when Mays made ‘The Catch,’ but I remember very clearly watching a game on Sunday’s Game of the Week in 1970 between the San Francisco Giants, and the Cincinnati Reds when Bobby Tolan hit a long fly ball toward right field. This was in Candlestick Park, which had a chain link home run fence at the time, and the camera was zeroed in on Bobby Bonds, who seemed to have a bead on the ball when suddenly a flash came flying in from the left side, and Willie caught the ball one handed, crashing into both the fence and Bonds. The two players fell to the ground, and Mays was actually unconscious for a few moments, but he held onto the ball.
He was thirty-nine years old at the time.
So on top of everything else, I didn’t realize until I read his obituary that he was only the tenth African-American to get called up to the majors, even though his debut was four years after Jackie Robinson. So we can only imagine the abuse he must have endured along the way. Rest in Peace to one of the best to ever play the game.
Thanks for this commentary Russ. I hadn't seen The Catch in a long time. And I'd forgotten how truly unique and extraordinary it was. RIP Willie.
Good one, Russell.