The Catch
(Amoros, Not Mays)
Bob Gibson once said, "A great catch is like watching girls go by. The last one you see is always the prettiest."
From a pitcher's standpoint, he might have been right. But the catch Willie Mays made in the 1954 World Series will be remembered as long as baseball is remembered.
It's been replayed literally thousands of times, and the still photo of Mays, with his back to home plate, making that over-the-head catch of Vic Wertz's 460-foot drive, has appeared in hundreds of books.
One year and six days later, a little-known outfielder made an equally great catch that was even more important to the outcome of the Series. Because of that catch, the Brooklyn Dodgers won the World Series. It was the only time they did it in eight tries.
After all, Mays made his fantastic catch in the first game of the Series. It's possible to argue that, if the Indians had won that game, momentum would have propelled them to the world championship. It's just as possible to argue that the Giants would have gone on to win the Series in five games instead of four.
The catch by Sandy Amoros in 1955, on the other hand, came in the seventh game and preserved Johnny Podres' 2-0 shutout over the Yankees. If he hadn't made the catch, the Yankees quite likely would have won the game and the Series.
Going into the bottom of the sixth at Yankee Stadium, the Dodgers had a 2-0 lead behind Podres, but the clever lefty appeared to be tiring. He walked leadoff hitter Billy Martin. Gil McDougald then beat out a bunt and Yogi Berra came to the plate.
The Dodger outfielders were pulled around toward right against the left-handed hitting Berra. But when Podres threw an outside pitch, Yogi reached for it and drove it down the left field line. It looked like a sure double that would tie the game. McDougald was certainly sure of it; he raced down to second and turned the base, while Martin held up at third to see what happened.
Here's what Martin saw, from his very good vantage point: Sandy Amoros, the Dodger left fielder, raced toward the foul pole. It was a long run, because the ball was slicing away from him. Just as he reached the tight corner, barely five feet from the left field stands, he stretched out his gloved right hand and snagged the ball.
Like Mays the year before, Amoros recovered almost instantly from his long run, checked his momentum, and fired the ball to shortstop Pee Wee Reese. Martin managed to scramble back to second, but Reese's relay to Gil Hodges caught McDougald.
Instead of a 2-2 game with the lead run at second base and no one out, it was still 2-0 with two outs and a much less important run at second. That great play seemed to resuscitate Podres. He gave up just one more hit the rest of the way and the Dodgers had finally won a World Series.
A year later, they lost to the Yankees in the Series, and two years after that they became the Los Angeles Dodgers. But, mainly because of that catch by Sandy Amoros, they had brought a world championship to Brooklyn.