85MLBMays Amazes
- Date
9/29/1954
- Location
Polo Grounds | New York, NY
- Moment
With the game tied 2–2 in the eighth inning of Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, the Cleveland Indians had runners on first and second against the New York Giants. Cleveland's Vic Wertz hit a 425-foot shot to center field, and Willie Mays sprinted towards the wall to track it down. Mays caught it over his shoulder, turned and gunned it back towards the infield, saving the runs.
- Impact
Mays’s catch kept the game tied, allowing the Giants to win the game 5-2 in the tenth inning off of Dusty Rhodes’s pinch-hit home run. Many consider it the greatest catch in baseball history, but some say the throw was even better. With such a deep center field at the Polo Grounds, players regularly scored from second after tagging up. Mays’s throw was right on the money, only allowing the runner at second to get to third. The Giants went on to win the World Series in four games.
