Greatest catch of all time?

I already said the circumstances add to the greatness of the play. That's obvious. I'm saying that others have made more difficult catches under similar circumstances. Mays' play was not so unbelievable that it should be considered clearly the best ever, that's all.

And Garry Maddox wasn't Sarge or Junior. You're thinking of Gary Mathews.

 

I stand corrected (on Maddox, I mean.)

 

I'm sure not going to say over-the-shoulder catches are easy, especially when it's coming straight over the top.

But then again, I'm not going to say picking the ball out of the air from eight feet off the ground, a la Chavez or Otis Nixon, is any easier.

Really, the Nixon catch still ranks up there for me, just for pure athleticism. But something Ryan Zimmerman did earlier this year was right up there, too ... going into short left, diving and snagging a line single over his head.

 

But Mays was already in the wrong defensive position playing his trademark shallow center field. His own error forced the 1954 catch to be extreme as it was

 

2nd to Edmonds ;D

 

I've always been amazed at Mays' catch.....just incredible. But part of the reason it's been immortalized is because in 1955 TV was at it's earliest stages, and people around the country witnessed it.

I'm still impressed with the camera work on that play

 

1954 Ashy

 

just adding to my theory! thanks spnited.

 

Watch the film. Not only is Mays shallow, he's way over towards right playing Wertz to pull, because that's what all hitters did in the Polo Grounds. So not only is he racing the final 75 feet or so at the dead run, Mays had to adjust his angle to the ball continuously on the dead run before getting dead behind it.
Look, every eyewitness there, which means the collective memory of baseball going back to the FIRST World Series, went on the record saying Mays' catch was something they'd never seen before. It was the best catch ever THEN, and my guess is the only reason all the other catches cited here as superior is because they were filmed and videotaped by superior technology. It really is like the old joke about the drunk looking for his car keys under the street lamp. The light's better now, that's all.

 

And that's why those people had never seen a catch like Mays'.

 

Just to correct somebody WAY back on the first page of this thread, Jeter's catch while diving into the stands was a FAIR ball, not foul. Very famous pic of the ump motioning "fair" and A-Rod raising his hands in celebration... The catch wasn't good enough to be included in this debate (Evans' was the No. 1), but wanted to set the record straight. Jeter's catch off Nixon saved a run. Fair ball.

 

Which, of course, is proof that he did not make the catch while diving into the stands but in fact caught the ball a full three strides before the stands and his momentum carred him in.
It was not a dving cacth. It was a very good play, overhyped and made more dramatic by the fact that he is Derek Jeter and he dove into the stand AFTER making the catch...nice dramatic effect.