Bygone baseball: The unfamiliar, the unusual, the dramatic
By C. Philip Francis
He Gave Up the World Series’ Longest Out
Okay, you brainy baseball buffs out there, you already know that the greatest outfield grab ever has to be THE CATCH by Willie Mays on September 29, 1954 in the New York Giants’ Polo Grounds. Just in case you need a little nudge, let’s run down the setting and the cast. The Cleveland Indians had won 111 games that season, the most since the Chicago Cubs of 1906 with 116, and were considered to be a cinch to take the World Series from the New York Giants that were led by canny and fiery Leo Durocher.
In Game One Cleveland’s starting pitcher was Bob Lemon with a season record of 23 and 7 as the Giants countered with right-handed Sal Maglie at 14-6. It happened in the top of the eighth with the teams tied at 2-all and the Tribe’s Vic Wertz at bat. It was no outs with two on following a walk and a hit when Leo decided to make a change. In came lefty Don Liddle to face the Indian slugger who already had a triple and two singles that day, and so it was lefty-vs-lefty.
Donald Eugene Liddle, also called “Little” due to his 5-10 and 165 pounds physical makeup, was born in 1925 in Illinois. He served 40 months with the Navy during World War II, and had six seasons with a number of minor league teams before being called up by the Milwaukee Braves in 1953 where he had a record of 7 wins and 6 losses.
Wertz had a one-ball, two-strike count when the diminutive southpaw offered a high fastball out over the plate that was smacked 460-feet towards into deep center field. As the ball left the bat Mays wheeled and ran straight for the wall, and as the wind grabbed his cap, Willie raised his glove at that exact moment to make an unbelievable over-the-shoulder, back to the infield snatch. Willie stopped, quickly pivoted, and fired the ball back to the infield. When the inning ended the Indians had not scored and lost in the tenth 5-2. The American League team never recovered, and so the Giants took the Championship in four straight with Little Don Liddle ending the carnage as the starting and winning pitcher in Game Four.
After throwing to the one batter, Marv Grissom was summoned from the bullpen to take over. As Don was walking off the field he jovial remarked, “I got my man!” Liddle stayed with the Giants one more season before going to the St. Louis Cardinals where he ended his Major League career with the lifetime numbers of 28 and 18. Liddle returned to his hometown of Mt. Carmel, Illinois where he managed the Elks Club, sold insurance, and spent 22 years with the Snap-On Tools Company. Liddle died on June 5, 2000 at the age of 75, and would be just another unknown ballplayer had he not been on the pitching end of a play that is simply called The Catch.
Note: The ball has long disappeared, but the glove Mays used was given to his son, Craig, who later donated it to baseball’s Hall of Fame.
Alfred John “The Bull” Ferrara was usually the extra outfielder for the Los Angeles Dodgers in the mid-1960’s. As a youngster he once appeared at Carnegie Hall as a solo pianist, but his brawny size led a teammate to say, “He says he was a piano player, but more than likely he was a piano mover.”
Ferrara was chosen as the Dodger of the Year in 1967 when he batted .277 with 16 homers, but could his good season partly be due to his marital woes? That year he testified in divorce court that he often received threatened calls from his estranged wife, a Brooklyn secretary. Al claimed that she would tell him that the next time he played in New York he would be shot. According to Ferrara, “This affected my playing in Shea Stadium. I was highly nervous and upset.” In his nine games at Shea the Bull was so “nervous and upset” he hit .320 but only .228 in the remaining eight parks! Do you think that Manager Alston would have…….n-a-a-w!
The Bull’s divorce suit was uncontested, and always had to play in Shea Stadium after going to San Diego and Cincinnati before closing out his eight seasons in the big leagues.
George Blaeholder pitched nine years in the majors, seven with the hapless St. Louis Browns, and although he is credited for inventing the slider or “nickel curve” George only had one winning seasons – his last one. Bob Lemon and Bob Gibson became masters of the pitch, but the name of George Blaeholder remains in baseball obscurity.
Candy Cummings won 21 games and lost 22 in his two big league years, but his name is in the Hall of Fame because of the curve ball. Candy claimed that he came up with the idea of a curve ball at the age of 14 by throwing clamshells on a New England beach.
Maybe Candy had a much better press agent.