September 1954 proved to be quite a month for baseball legend Willie Mays. Besides clinching the batting title on the last day of the regular season, during Game One of the 1954 World Series, Mays made a spectacular defensive play now known simply as “The Catch.”
With the score tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning and runners on first and second, Cleveland’s Vic Wertz launched a pitch deep into center field. Mays, who had been playing shallow, took off in a dead sprint, and managed to make an over-the-shoulder catch while still on the run. Still aware of the runners, Mays immediately turned and threw the ball back into the infield, and the Giants got out of the inning with no runs given up to the Indians.
The Giants went on, not only to win the game, but to sweep the entire Series.
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