70th Anniversary of "The Catch"

[Xavier Breath]

I didn't see this in Baseball or anywhere else, so I thought I'd start a discussion.

On September 29, 1954,Willie Mays of the New York Giants made a running, over-the-shoulder catch of a ball hit by Vic Wirtz of the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series; "The Catch" would become one of the most famous plays in baseball history.

It was such a big deal that all these years later it was the highlight in our midwestern newspaper's Today in History section. I was 12+ years away from being born, but I'm sure someone here saw it happen live, if not in person.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. It's on the main page of Wikipedia too.

And good morning.

[Xavier Breath]

2. Good morning.

I grew up seeing that B&W white footage so many times.

I should have included this in the OP:

[SomedayKindaLove]

3. Jack Brickhouse

With the call.

[Silent Type]

4. Back then, there was maybe one game on TV on Saturday. No TV games during week, etc. So, few people saw it live.

Plus, lots of folks didn't have TVs. If they did, the screen was smaller than a compact computer screen.

But, there were lots of radio broadcasts and the announcers were great.

But that catch is iconic as almost anything in sports.

[Xavier Breath]

5. It wasn't much better in the 70s.

NBC had the Saturday game of the week, and sometimes they might have a double-header, but not always. Then there was ABC's Monday night baseball, the only other option. The Reds were never shown on local tv unless Riverfront was sold out, which rarely happened. At least today there's a myriad of choices when it comes to watching live sports, if it is a bit spendy.

[rsdsharp]

6. Wertz was the only man pitcher Don Liddle faced.

When Durocher came to the mound to take him out he said, “Well, I got my man.”