Greatest baseball catch ever

In the late 80s or early 90s (before Camden Yards, anyway), Cal Ripken hit a ball that an Indians centerfielder leaped over the fence for and caught, and then his momentum carried him over the fence. I'm positive that was called a home run. Anyone remember that play, or why they gave Ripken a home run? I want to say the outfielder was Brad Komminsk.

 

Underrated because the Mets blew the game... **** Molina (bitter Mets fanboi loooser)

 

shiiiiit. considering the series venue, the ground he covered in polo's center field, the over-the-shoulder-catch and the throw he made after said ground coverage and saving a run ... you're high.

 

Immediately discounted because it's an LCC kid. [/Clarkgrad]

 

Two great things have happened in sports: Mays' catch and Namath's guarantee. Nothing great happened before or since.

 

At least your school had baseball.

 

It was the greatest catch ever...before the bullpen catcher, in full gear, leaps over the fence as well.

Big whoop.

 

May out myself, but I witnessed this live (and in a moment of complete, stunned disorientation, tweeted that it was the greatest catch in baseball history.)

Seeing that catch close up ---- I was at the junction of the foul-line wall and the left-field wall ---- was as absurd as seeing a unicorn walk on to the field.

Setting aside the physical and mechanical difficulty of the catch, a factor to consider was that Salberg was at a near-full sprint. That was a risky act. That fence is short, but even a gifted athlete needs to be paying attention and concentrating to hurdle it if he is facing it. Salberg never looked at the wall. He just went horizontal, a good 40+ inches off the ground, and caught it. Had his foot caught the wall, he could have broke his neck. He also could have landed on some chairs in the bullpen.

That hit was a frozen rope, or "rod" if you prefer. It was shat upon. Salberg had to size it up in the midst of a dead sprint.

The degree of injury risk + degree of difficulty + game situation + context of him being a Kelso kid in the final tournament of a Longview-WSU-local legend made it pretty special.

But I'm just a Longview guy. As others have pointed out, our standards are low.

Passan's take was terrific.

He was not the first to call it the greatest catch in baseball history, and won't be the last.

DM me if you'd care to see some cool still images of the catch.

 

Greatest ever. Even Vin Scully said so. Started what would have been a triple play in the World Series, if umpire Bob Davidson had made the right call. Fuck Davidson. And fuck Mays.

 

mays just told me to tell you to go fuck yourself, you canadian bastard.

 

How is it not a home run? He didn't catch it in the field of play.

 

I agree, Salberg did make a terrific catch, and it was a fantastic play all the way. Wary of automatically stamping anything the best ever, though. Especially right away.