Show I. I 1 My My Thirty Years Of Baseball ii- ii By John J. J McGraw I i I I I tr 9 Larry who while a member of the Red Sox nearly beat the Giants with a home run drive He was later ater purchased by McGraw I ARTICLE 31 Sam Mertes' Mertes Great Catch Catch I Catch keeler Keeler eeler Pulls One Out of the Barbed Wire Wire The Tho Danger Danger Dan Dan- ger of th the The one big factor in that 1905 team which in many wa ways s 's I consider my greatest greatest greatest great great- est ball bail club was team spirit that spirit that Indomitable in indomitable In- In determination to win games regardless of ot who got the individual cred cred- it Naturally a ball club had to be smart to see cee the force of that policy That very Idea suggests to me the an answer answer answer an- an to one of those who have sent in filled out questionnaires He says What was the greatest catch you ever saw made madeT To my way of thinking the answer to that depends largely upon the importance of the result I have seen many The Thu Theone Theone one that remains remaIns' most vividly in my memory w was s made by Sam Merles Mertes in Cincinnati It Is indelible because it decided the pennant of 1905 We had been going at Jit t top speed and arid arrived In Cincinnati with just one yb vie tory needed to cinch the pennant If It you will remember Same Mertes Merte being a great s played left field while Mike r played I center Mike len ix h dB We n was not t an expert 1 In the Very few players are That ability to look into o a blazing g sun and keep an n eye on the ball is a s sort of f faculty l lI I think the natural strength of the eye ee has much touch to do with it To app appreciate what I mean walk walle across the field of any ball bail park Dark after the game Then turn suddenly and look Into the sun which Is usually sinking back of the grandstand grand grand- stand nIne men out of a hundred hundred hundred hun hun- dred will win be bo temporarily blinded Smoked glasses help some to overcome this but the average person could not follow the theco co course of a ball bali even ven with that aid ald SUN FIELD IS DIFFICULT PLACE In this game with Cincinnati they were pushing us close clos and I noticed that Mike Donlin was having trouble with the sun I in center field He had narrowly es escaped escaped escaped es- es i a couple of ot errors that wo would ld have been disastrous C In the next Inning I t that at long hitters would be coming up Its tough out there Mac Mike said to me At this time Um of year the sun is directly in the center fielders fielder's eyes and Just over the top ton of the grandstand I All right you move over Into left Mike I directed And Mertes you 1 go and play play cen center ter Sure enough In the next inning the Reds got a man on on A long hit would woul 1 beat us And mind you the pennant was almost in our grasp That one game was needed The next batter caught one on the n nose se seand and it was a wicked line drive to deep center Mertes having anticipated the danger of ot a long hit played very deep A A. short hit hit say eay a a. single would single would not be beso beso beso so disastrous but a three bagger or a a. ahome ahome home run would be fatal Mertes realized realized rea rca that and played accordingly Starting with the crack Irack of the bat he looked squarely into the tho sun and ran with the de ball It seemed certain that it would go over his head By a sprint though he got back and with a a. Jump speared the ball with his bare hand crashing into the he fence as he fell But Buthe Buthe Buthe he had saved the game and won the pennant MERTES' MERTES CATCH SAVED THE FLAG That w was wis s the greatest catch I ever saw ft n was d doubly UblY great because nothing but the shifting of outfielders at the psychological psychological psycho psycho- logical moment would have saved us Donlin would never have been PSYChO PSYChO-I able to see the ball and make the catch From a a purely spectacular point of view vie the greatest catch I ever saw was made by Willie Keeler while our 01 old 1 Oriole team was playing one day in Washington Keeler by the way died Unexpectedly on New Years Year's eye eve of or this year while the present memoirs were being written I do not recall the exact status of the game as the result was not so BO Important Anyway the Senators got a man on base and Abbey I believe It was took a vi vicious vicious vicious vi- vi cious swing and slammed a drive toward right field that seemed a a. sure home run tun On top of the railing In front of the right field bleachers there were three or four our strands of barbed wire Just a a. littie little lit lit- tie tle higher than the outfielders outfielder's head It seemed sure that the ball would clear this barbed wire I Willie Keeler started with the crack of the he bat and got to the fence in tIne time but butt it t looked as if the ball would go into the stand over his head That's what it did do do almost Seeing the predicament Willie leaped In n the air and fearlessly stuck his bare hand land between the strands of barbed wire The ball struck In his hand and he held it Ho lIe held it despite the painful cutting of his hand as he dragged It back over the sharp barbs That catch was talked about for months I have never seen another like It t. t It showed marvelous Judgment of distance accuracy and unusual courage An odd aftermath to that catch Is that while I was talking about it one night nighton on the train with some of the New York baseball r reporters In 1905 1305 on one ona of ot them aPollo liD UD Me Mc rIc he said said your your memory Is Is' certainly certainly f accurate I was a boy ot of 18 U then and was sitting in the bleachers that day Just in the spot where I would have got the ball if It Keeler hadn't caught it And a funny thing about that he added I was asked about that catch by one of the baseball writers that night When I read the stories in tho paper the next day it gave me the notion of becoming a a. baseball writer myself LARRY LARRY DOYLES DOYLE'S HOME RUN DRIVE FAILED Another gT great at catch that I remember er very well was made mad by Harry Hooper In that sensational game between the Giants and the Red Sox which decided th the worlds world's championship a in 1912 We V were J in a good position t to win when Josh Devore got on first Larry Doyle got hold of one and sent n. n long drive I tearing toward right center that bore borea a home run label There was a little fence about three feet high in front of the tho bleacher crowd out there there there-an an overflow Harry Hooper darted dated for the ball Seeing that it would clear the fence he leaped backward caught the ball and fell over the little fence into the crowd But for that catch catchI I am certain the Giants would have won It would have changed the whole cpm cpm- of the game and there would have been no opportunity for the last two plays that spelled havoc havoc Merkle Merkle and Meyer Mejer falling failing to catch the foul back backof of first base and Snodgrass making the i muff In center Another r great catch of more nore recent date was that of Bill Bm Cunningham when 1 he caught that terrific long fly of 1 Ruths Ruth's in the last series with the Yanks I falling against the centerfield fence as ashe ashe ashe he made It 1 We had sort of suspected that Ruth would pull one of those long range shots of ot his At any rate we took no chances on not being ready Cunningham played Just as far back as possible At that he had to o run as far as he could and then fall against the fence to make male the catch That catch may not have had much effect on the final outcome of the se series se- se ries rica but it certainly had a great effect In lowering Ruths Ruth's morale Incidentally that Is the longest fly ball I ever have seen caught Copyright 1923 by the Christy Walsh Syndicate |