The Catch

The Catch

“The most incredible thing about miracles is that they happen.”
G.K. Chesterson

Congratulations to the Houston Astros on winning the World Series! What an exciting Series, heartbreaking, but exciting.

I love baseball and could watch any game and enjoy it…a lot.

One of the greatest batters in history, Rogers Hornsby, was once asked what he did in the offseason. He replied that he sat in his house and stared out the window, waiting for baseball to start again.

Dodger right fielder Yasiel Puig’s nearly effortless catch in the third game of the World Series reminded me of the catch made by Willy Mays in the first game of the 1954 World Series, between the then New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians.

The score was tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, with runners on first and second and nobody out. Vic Wertz worked the count to two and one, when he hit what Vin Scully would call a “towering fly ball” to just right of dead center field. Mays, playing shallow center to hold the runners, turned and ran flat-out away from the ball and towards the center field wall making an over-the-shoulder catch right at the warning track at what is guessed to be 460 feet.

Dodger Stadium dead center is 395 feet.

Willy wasn’t done yet. He wheeled and threw to second, causing the runner to have to retag and barely make it to third instead of home. Willy saved at least two runs. and the Giants went on to win the game and the Series.

The catch is considered one of the greatest moments in sports. It sure was!