Just one job to do...

            Don Liddle was a pitcher for the New York Giants in the 1950s and he was a member of the Giants team that played the Cleveland Indians in the 1954 World Series.

          Leo Durocher, who would later write the best baseball book I’ve ever read, was managing the Giants that season and he brought lefthander Liddle in as a relief pitcher in a tight spot in the first game of the Series.

          Liddle’s assignment: Get the next batter out so Durocher could bring in another pitcher to face the next guy. Liddle accomplished the goal and the game moved on.

          But how Liddle got the out and what he said after the out was recorded is part of baseball lore.

          You see, the next batter was Vic Wertz. Wertz, who had a journeyman career as a first baseman and an outfielder, crushed one of Liddle’s pitches toward centerfield. An absolute rocket.

          One reporter later wrote that Wertz’ bomb would have been out of every other major league park, including Yellowstone. But the game in question was played in the spacious New York Polo Grounds and there was a lot of room in centerfield.

          Lots and lots of room. There is no definitive source for the depth of centerfield at the Polo Grounds that day, but most sources say it between 460 feet from home plate to the wall and others say it was 485.

          Most estimates say Wertz hit the ball about 420 feet, but whatever the distance was, Willie Mays made a spectacular effort to run the ball down and catch it somewhere near the centerfield wall. Mays’ over-the-shoulder catch is one of the more celebrated defensive plays in baseball history. Watch it on Youtube; he looks like a baseball version of Elroy Hirsch, the Hall of Fame wide receiver.

          And every bit as great as the catch was Mays’ throw. Upon catching the ball, Mays whirled and hurled and the throw was good enough to keep any runs from scoring. There were runners at first and second base and the runner at second tagged up and went to third, but that was it. It was a stunning play by Mays.

          And so, as soon as the ball returned to the mound, Durocher came back out, took the ball from Liddle and brought in another pitcher.

          Liddle strolled to the dugout, fired his glove at the bench and sat down saying, “WelI, I got my man.”

          It’s a great line and it’s classic baseball.

          Thanks for reading.