Willie Mays Makes "The Catch"

The Giants and the Cleveland Indians opened the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth, with Cleveland's Vic Wertz at the plate and two runners aboard. Wertz drove a pitch from Sal Maglie deep to dead center, a shot that looked headed well over 400 feet toward the Polo Grounds' cavernous back wall. Giants center fielder Willie Mays sprinted with his back fully to the infield, caught the ball over his shoulder near the warning track, then spun and fired a throw back in that kept both runners from advancing. The Giants won that game 5-2 in ten innings on a Dusty Rhodes pinch-hit homer, then swept the heavily favored Indians, winners of an American League record 111 games that season, in four straight. The catch itself, captured live on national television, outlasted the score and the sweep in the public memory.