GIANT
09-28-2007, 09:55 AM
Fifty years ago today, September 29, 1957, the New York Giants played their last game at the Polo Grounds. One of the great franchises in baseball history, the Giants played in New York from the early 1880s. The Giants move to San Francisco in 1958. On the same day in 1954, Willie Mays made his catch against Cleveland in Game One of the World Series.
The Real McCoy
10-02-2007, 01:08 PM
On the same day in 1954, Willie Mays made his catch against Cleveland in Game One of the World Series.
One of the better "back stories" to Mays' catch was Durocher had brought in Don Liddle specifically to pitch to Wertz, a move that wasn't all that common in those days (and which is all too common today; Refer to: Reasons for 3:30 games).
Anyways, Wertz hits one nearly to the Harlem River, Mays tracks it down in the only part of the Polo Grounds where he could have made the catch and makes a great throw back to the infield (an oft overlooked part of the play). Durocher, after taking a moment on the bench to assure himself that a heart attack was not imminent, rushes to the mound to yank Liddle, who flips his manager the ball with the remark, "Well, Skip, I got my man."