Willie Mays Made "The Catch," but How Great Was It?

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Published Jul 14, 2020

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Willie Mays' The Catch, which occurred during the 1954 World Series' Game 1, has long been considered by man to be the greatest catch of all time or the best catch in MLB history. However, in this episode of Baseball Bits, I, Foolish Baseball, will argue that the legacy of this play is misunderstood.

We'll explore the Polo Grounds' size, which is vast, and also use new Statcast data to figure out the Statcast catch probability of this play. God bless the good people of Baseball Savant.

We're also going to learn about some of the other key actors in The Catch, like the Cleveland Indians Vic Wertz and Larry Doby. They all played a big role in this Indians Giants World Series.

If Mays doesn't make The Catch, it would end up being just another Polo Grounds home run, albeit an inside-the-parker. He really saved the day. I think you'll all rue the day you asked questions like "is the catch overrated?"

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Andrew Clem's Polo Grounds diagram: http://www.andrewclem.com/Baseball/PoloGrounds.html
Footage A: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSiCT8oejug
Footage B: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1vrsg_-dV7Q
Footage C: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_wyXjpFZCE

Category: Baseball

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Willie Mays Made "The Catch," but How Great Was It? | Baseball Bits

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