The Catch (baseball)

However, Mays made an over-the-shoulder catch while on the run to record the out, and his throw back to the infield prevented one of the runners from advancing.

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.

[2] Wertz worked the count to two balls and one strike before hitting Liddle's fourth pitch about 420 feet (130 m) to deep center field.

[2] Right-hander Marv Grissom then relieved Liddle,[2] who supposedly remarked to coach Freddie Fitzsimmons, "Well, I got my man.

[2] Jack Brickhouse, calling the game for NBC television along with Russ Hodges, described Mays' catch to viewers.

[7] Willie Mays just brought this crowd to its feet with a catch which must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people!

[11] Regardless, the ball was not hit to the deepest part of center field; the spot where Mays made his catch is estimated by baseball researchers not to be more than 425 feet (130 m) from home plate.

[12] 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.

[14][15] In a 2006 CD collection, Ernie Harwell's Audio Scrapbook,[16] Mays talks about a running bare-handed catch he made at Forbes Field in Pittsburgh in 1951, after which the Giants' players teased the young rookie by treating him with complete indifference when he returned to the bench.