The Defensive Excellence of Willie Mays

One baseball executive said Willie Mays’ glove was “where triples go to die.” (SABR-Rucker Archive)

 

One of the game’s greatest players of all time was also one of the greatest defensive players of all time.

Willie Mays set a standard of excellence for outfielders that is virtually unmatched. As Dodgers executive Fresco Thompson said, Mays’ glove was “where triples go to die.”1

Mays is the leader in games played as a center fielder (2,829) and putouts as both a center fielder (7,024) and outfielder (7,112) since 1901. He ranks seventh in assists as a center fielder (188) and third in double plays (59).

For the modern stat, Total Zone Runs, an estimate of runs saved based on available defensive data dating back to 1953, Mays ranks second among center fielders behind only Andruw Jones.

Mays’ 12 Gold Glove Awards are tied with Roberto Clemente for the most for an outfielder since the award was first given out in 1957.

Mays was the only unanimous choice for the inaugural Gold Gloves, which were selected by a panel of writers organized by The Sporting News.2

“You can’t have all of it like Willie did, but he did,” said Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench, who presented Mays with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Gold Glove Awards ceremony in 2013, describing Mays’ defensive work. “He possessed a gift that very few people will ever have, and anybody will ever have. He played the game the way we all wanted to.”3

He also played in a way that was distinct at the time and is still so now. Mays’ signature play was the basket catch, a play he worked on while serving in the US Army in 1952 and 1953, inspired by teammates Chic Genovese4 and Bill Rigney.5 Though Mays understood the showy nature of the way he caught balls, there was a practical aspect to it, particularly when there were men on base.

“If you catch it down here, at the middle of your body, you’ll get rid of it more quickly,” Mays said.6

But it was considerably more than the basket catch that made Mays memorable. His speed allowed him to reach balls that others couldn’t. Mays often played a shallow center field but was able to track balls to the extent that he knew exactly where he needed to go to make the catch.7

The many newspaper accounts of great plays by Mays almost all describe a sprint, gallop, or dash of varying lengths. The ball rarely beat him to the spot. And his throwing arm was elite. As is noted below, the way he threw a baseball was often compared to those competing in Olympic throwing events.

Mays knew how important his defense was. He often said that defense was the key to playing baseball. He used mostly MacGregor gloves, though his most famous catch was made with a Rawlings. Mays would make a 12-inch glove 14 inches by pulling his palm out of his glove to allow greater extension.8

Here is a summary of 24 great plays made by Mays. They begin when he was a 17-year-old in the Negro Leagues and conclude at age 50 in an Old-Timers Day game. It’s far from an all-encompassing list, but these plays will give you a sense of how Mays amazed everyone who watched him, not just at bat, but also in the field.

1. September 30, 1948

Mays’ defensive origin story began in his brief time as a 17-year-old with the Birmingham Black Barons, most notably in Game Three of the Negro World Series against the Homestead Grays.

First, he made a running catch near the center-field fence in the third inning. Then he threw out future Hall of Famer Buck Leonard, who was trying to go from first to third on a single Mays fielded in the sixth inning. And for good measure, Mays’ walk-off hit won the game in the ninth.9

2. July 23, 1950

A 19-year-old Mays played 81 games with the Trenton Giants in the Interstate League and wowed his teammates with one amazing play after another.

One example: Chasing down a fly ball while crashing into and then toppling over the left-center-field temporary wire fence to end a bases-loaded threat in the fifth inning of a game at Memorial Stadium in York, Pennsylvania.

“I thought he was going to catch the ball,” said left fielder Maurice Cunningham. “It was just a matter of whether he was going to hold it when he started going over the fence.”10

He did. Of course, he did. People learned early on not to doubt Mays’ defense.

3. July 25, 1951

It took only a few months into Mays’ major-league career before he began making catches that had few precedents, like one against Rocky Nelson in the first inning of a 5-4 loss to the Pirates.

As described by the New York Daily News:

“The Giants center fielder, after a long gallop, caught up with the ball about 400 feet from the plate and made a bare-hand catch on the dead run.”11

Said Branch Rickey, then the Pirates’ GM: “That was the finest catch I have ever seen and the finest catch I ever expect to see.”12

It wasn’t the first time Mays made a barehand catch either. He made one in his Trenton Giants home debut a year earlier, then telling his teammates that the reason he went with the bare hand was that “I couldn’t get my glove up in time.”13

Thirty-eight years later, another Giant would become famous for making a barehand catch, when left fielder Kevin Mitchell made one against Cardinals shortstop Ozzie Smith.

4. August 15, 1951

It is amusing in hindsight that the lede of the New York Daily News game story for this contest between the Giants and Dodgers was “Now that it doesn’t matter too much anymore, the Giants have discovered that they can beat the Dodgers if they make an all-out try.”14

In this case, that meant a running catch by Mays and a throw home to nail Billy Cox of the Dodgers trying to score in the top of the eighth inning. Catcher Wes Westrum tagged Cox for the final out of the frame, keeping the score tied, 1-1.

Wrote Jim McCulley: “It looked as though Cox would easily make the plate after the catch. But Mays, after making the nab, made a complete turn like a discus heaver, and fired a strike to Westrum.”15

Mays and Westrum teamed up again in the bottom of the eighth. After Mays singled, Westrum hit a two-run home run that gave the Giants a 3-1 win. It was the fifth win in a 16-game winning streak that helped the Giants overtake the Dodgers for the NL pennant.16

5. April 18, 1952

One can read a lot of accounts saying that this catch or that catch was judged by someone to be Mays’ greatest. The catch made on this day is the one that Mays himself called the best one.

In the seventh inning of a game against the Dodgers, Mays caught pinch-hitter Bobby Morgan’s bid for an extra-base hit with a dive and a slide near the fence in left-center field.

“I didn’t think I had a chance at all to get it,” Mays told reporters.17 “It was sinking fast and seemed to be curving away. But I stayed with it and got it on the dive – with both hands together.”

Mays noted later that he hit the wall and briefly knocked himself out. “When I came to, I can see Leo [Durocher] and Jackie [Robinson]. Leo wanted to see how I was doing, and Jackie wanted to see if I caught the ball.”18

6. June 18, 1953

While serving in the Army, Mays played for the Fort Eustis (Virginia) baseball team and regularly wowed his fellow soldiers.

Jim Shoop told of a play Mays made against him when Shoop, playing for the Patuxent River Naval Air Station, tried to go from first to third on a single.

“Mays had darted to his left, completely eliminating the gap. He snared the liner on one hop, pivoted smartly and unleashed a bullet of a throw to third base,” wrote Jim’s son, Tom Shoop. “As Dad chugged along, the third baseman caught Mays’ perfect throw and waited patiently for him to arrive. Dad executed a textbook slide – right into the tag.”19

7. August 15, 1954

Six weeks before the famous play in Game One of the 1954 World Series against Vic Wertz, there was one against Duke Snider, a reaching, leaping catch in the seventh inning, just in front of the part of the Ebbets Field fence that contained a garage door.20

The Dodgers defeated the Giants, 9-4, that day, though Mays extended his hitting streak to 17 games with a home run. Sportswriter Dick Young overheard an unimpressed Dodgers fan wonder about the defensive play.

“How come he didn’t catch it at his belt?”21

8. September 29, 1954

“I had it all the way,” Mays said of his catch on the 450-foot fly ball hit by Indians slugger Wertz.

Never mind that Mays ran “for about five minutes” in his initial chase in the eighth inning, per Daily News writer Dick Young, than for “another couple of minutes” when he realized he hadn’t quite reached the ball’s landing point yet.22

“I remember him busting for the ball and tapping his glove, which means he’s got it,” said Joe Amalfitano, then a rookie catcher who was in the Giants’ bullpen ready to warm up potential relief pitchers. “Then he started to slow down. I knew he had the ball tracked.”23

After making the catch, Mays made an incredible throw back into the infield, as Larry Doby tagged and went from second to third. Mays took pride in telling people about the importance of that heave.

“The throw is the key to that play,” Mays has repeatedly said.24

Wrote Arnold Hano in A Day in the Bleachers, “Mays caught the ball and then whirled and threw, like some olden statue of a Greek javelin hurler, his head twisted away to the left as his right arm swept up and around.”25

Sometimes forgotten is the context in which this catch was made. Had the ball fallen, two runs would have scored, putting the Indians up 4-2. Instead, Mays caught the ball and the game remained tied as the Giants escaped the inning, then won it in the 10th on a walk-off home run by Dusty Rhodes.

The other thing forgotten is that Wertz was in the middle of his greatest World Series game. A hit would have been his fourth in four at-bats, and he’d have had driven in all four Indians runs.

Instead, he’s “the other guy” in the story of one of the most memorable catches in baseball history.

9. July 12, 1955

Forty-seven years before Torii Hunter robbed Barry Bonds in Milwaukee in 2002, Mays stole a potential home run from Ted Williams in the All-Star Game at County Stadium in Milwaukee.

With the AL leading 5-0, Williams hit a drive to deep right-center field, one that looked as if it would add two runs to the lead. But Mays “drifted to the seven-foot-high screen, waited to time his leap, then sprang as high as possible and came down with the ball. The crowd swooned.”26

Said Mays, “I guess I made a real good jump.”27

The catch was a turning point. Mays singled twice and scored two runs as the NL rallied for a 6-5 win on Stan Musial’s home run in the 12th inning.

10. March 29, 1956

About a year and a half after making the catch against Wertz in the World Series, Mays did it again to Wertz in the fifth inning of an exhibition game between the Giants and Indians in Tucson, Arizona.

“It didn’t mean as much, but Willie ran after it just the same,” wrote McCulley for the Daily News. “He kept running and running and snagged it with one hand, 400 feet in right-center and used the other hand to back himself away from the wall.”28

11. July 31, 1956

In this part of his career, Mays was frequently topping himself, at least in the eyes of those who saw him regularly. A case in point was this catch in the eighth inning of a 5-1 win in the first game of a doubleheader against the Reds.

“… Mays made one of his all-time best catches to rob [Wally] Post of at least three bases,” wrote McCulley. “Willie, after a long, speedy gallop, and a last-second leap[,] nabbed Wally’s blow in the left field bullpen for the second out.”29

12. June 3, 1957

This was another one for the top-all lists. Here’s what some observers said of Willie’s “60-yard dash” to catch Roberto Clemente’s 440-foot drive to the left-center gap, opposite where Mays was playing.

“That ball is uncatchable” – Giants manager Bill Rigney.

“This is an impossible thing” – Giants coach Tommy Henrich.

“He’s the only ballplayer that ever played baseball that could have caught the ball” – Pirates manager Bobby Bragan.30

13. June 10, 1957

Another Wally, this time Cardinals slugger Wally Moon, did his best Wertz impersonation, hitting a ball to dead center field at the Polo Grounds in the fourth inning. The Daily News estimated that Mays was 450 feet from home plate when he made the catch.31 The Associated Press put it at 470 feet away32 and the AP photo of the play makes it appear that he’s just a step from the 480-foot mark.33

This one didn’t get quite the writeup of some of the others, maybe because Mays lost a ball in the sun earlier in the game, the first of a doubleheader in which the Giants were swept.

14. July 7, 1957

This one was another of the drives to deep center field that would have been at least 40 feet over the fence in any modern ballpark. But Dick Rand’s line drive to straightaway center field at the Polo Grounds, only two innings after a home run, was just another ball that Mays made like Superman to catch up to.

“Mays took off as though jet propelled and this looked too hard to handle,” wrote Pittsburgh Press columnist Les Biederman. “This one was a line drive, not a towering fly, and for an instant it appeared the ball would beat Mays to the spot in front of the clubhouse. But somehow Mays reached the warning track about 450 feet from the plate and took the ball over his left shoulder. The wonder of it was how he made it look so routine.”34

 

Willie Mays’ 12 Gold Gloves tie him with Roberto Clemente for the most among outfielders since the award was first given out in 1957. (National Baseball Hall of Fame Library)

 

15. September 16, 1959

The 1959 pennant race was one in which the Giants clung to the divisional lead with six games remaining but were overtaken by the eventual World Series-winning Dodgers.

Mays did all he could in the field to keep the Giants in front, hitting .488 in the last 12 games of the season. He did his best on defense, too, making a leaping catch at home against the right-center-field fence on Milwaukee Braves third baseman Eddie Mathews in the fifth inning of what would be a 2-0 loss.

“Willie came down in a heap, clutching his sore shoulder,” wrote Curley Grieve in the San Francisco Examiner. “But after resting on his knees momentarily, he got up and trotted to the dugout.”35

The AP photo of the catch captures Mays in mid-jump. The photo caption provided by the AP editors invites us to take note of a boy in the picture who was “more interested in his bag of peanuts than in the play.”36

Mays did this just three days after bruising his thigh chasing (and missing) a ninth-inning fly ball hit by Harry Anderson of the Phillies. He recovered to make a great running catch later that inning (preserving a 1-0 win)37 and then this one against Mathews.

16. May 17, 1961

Only 17 days after hitting four home runs in a game, Mays had another top-all moment, an all-timer of a catch against Dick Bertell of the Cubs. This was another over-the-shoulder snag of a line drive near the 410-foot mark in center field at Candlestick Park.

San Francisco Examiner writer Grieve and other writers polled those with the Giants who were there for both this catch and Mays’ catch on Wertz in the 1954 World Series. Then-manager Alvin Dark said it was better than the Wertz catch. Coach Wes Westrum agreed. Whitey Lockman disagreed.

This was Dark’s take: “This one, he turned his back and raced for it. It had to be perfect judgment. He caught it like a football.”

Mays chose not to weigh in, saying he had a hard enough time remembering the Wertz catch.38

The Sacramento Bee offered a neutral take, saying the catch on Bertell “had just a mite more of greatness attached to it.”39

17. June 22, 1963

A pair of photos, one from the Associated Press and one from United Press International that ran in the San Francisco Examiner, commemorate this catch by Willie Mays against Joe Torre in the third inning of a 3-0 shutout of the Milwaukee Braves at County Stadium.

The first photo shows Mays leaping and making a one-handed catch just in front of the fence. The second shows the aftermath, Mays tumbling over as if doing a headstand, the ball visible in his glove.40

18. July 9, 1963

“I play to win,” Mays told reporters at the 1963 All-Star Game at Cleveland Stadium.

That’s why Mays had no concern for injury in making a running catch of Joe Pepitone’s eighth-inning fly ball. Mays won the game MVP for that play, as well as his two hits and two runs scored. A stubbed toe, which got caught underneath the chain-link fence after Mays made the grab, was of little consequence.41

Mays’ toe injury did nothing to impede his season. He hit .376 with 16 home runs in the first 46 games after the All-Star break.

19. August 22, 1963

Mays took a lot of bumps and bruises in that 1963 season. Six weeks after the All-Star Game, he went hard after a line drive to right-center by Lee Maye in the third inning of an 8-6 win against Milwaukee. The Oakland Tribune referred to it as “an impossible-except-for-Willie catch.”

Mays banged his right wrist on the grass when he dove to snag the ball.

“It wasn’t hurt, it was numb, like when you whack your funny bone,” Mays told reporters.42

Again, Mays healed up. He walked in his last two plate appearances in this game, then had multiple hits in each of his next five games.

20. May 17, 1966

Mays remembered this day well enough to talk about it in his book with John Shea more than 50 years later. He had three outfield assists in a game for the only time in his career in a 2-1 13-inning loss to the Dodgers. That was short of the major-league record of four, last done by Wally Berger of the Braves in 1931.43

The first throw nailed Willie Davis trying to go from first to third on a single. The second was described as a fake-out, with Mays conning Don Drysdale into thinking he wouldn’t catch the ball, then doubling him off first base.

The last was described as “an amazing heave” that needed a relay from Willie McCovey against the Dodgers’ fastest runner, Maury Wills, who was trying to score on Jim Gilliam’s double. It kept the game tied temporarily in the 11th inning.44

“I had another guy at second but (Tito) dropped the ball,” Mays said, referring to a potential fourth assist to second baseman Tito Fuentes. “He felt bad about it, but I told him don’t worry, that’s baseball.”45

21. April 11, 1970

Thirty-nine-year-old Willie Mays still had the aggressive instincts of his younger days, even if it came at the detriment of his teammates.

In the third inning of NBC’s Game of the Week between the Reds and Giants, Bobby Tolan hit a fly ball to right center that looked as though it was going to be a home run. Tolan had already been denied a hit by Mays when leading off the game. He was about to be thwarted again.

“The only question was how I would catch the ball,” Mays said.46

Mays and right fielder Bobby Bonds both came hard toward the ball, and it was Mays who reached well over the fence with his glove to pull the ball back. He did so as he crashed hard into Bonds, with Bonds’ left shoulder going directly into Mays’ chest. Mays then fell on top of Bonds on the way down, this time taking a shot from Bonds’ knee.

Mays held on to the ball even as he was knocked out for a few seconds. After a five-minute delay to allow Bonds and Mays to recuperate, both players were able to finish the game.47

“I don’t like you,” Barry Bonds remembers telling his father. “You hurt Willie.”48 Mays was his favorite player (and godfather).

22. June 19, 1972

The great defensive plays were fewer for the 41-year-old Mays, but they didn’t completely disappear. In a 3-0 loss to the Astros in which the Mets were one-hit by Larry Dierker, Mays made two standouts.

The first was a diving catch against Bob Watson that left two runners on base in the fifth inning. One writer noted that Mays was “sliding 10 to 20 yards across the AstroTurf” after making the catch. Mays also chased down a double by Larry Howard and got the relay to shortstop Bud Harrelson quickly enough to throw out Tommy Helms at the plate.49

23. July 8, 1973

The narrative of Willie Mays falling over himself in the outfield in his final days as a major leaguer is a pervasive one but doesn’t tell the complete story. Mays was still capable of making a great play.

Darrell Evans of the Atlanta Braves learned that the hard way. Evans thought he homered in the eighth inning. But his 410-foot fly ball to center field didn’t quite carry far enough. Mays jumped at the fence to make the catch and denied Evans a chance to circle the bases.50

24. October 3, 1981

On the 30th anniversary of Bobby Thomson’s “Shot Heard ’Round the World,” the Mets staged an Old-Timers Day Game at Shea Stadium and Mays flashed back to his 20-year-old days for a few glorious seconds.

The now 50-year-old Mays made a running catch on the warning track in left-center field to take an extra-base-hit away from Ron Swoboda.

“It was a play many modern major leaguers half his age would not make,” wrote New York Daily News writer Jack Lang.51

Mays at any age was simply a marvel. He came to the major leagues making plays that no seasoned veteran could make. And he ended his playing days in much the same way.

MARK SIMON works in content creation for Sports Info Solutions, where he often writes about the defensive excellence of current MLB players. He previously worked at the Trenton Times and ESPN. His father’s all-time favorite players are Willie Mays and Keith Hernandez.

 

Acknowledgments

Special thanks to Willie Mays biographer John Shea, Eduardo Pérez, Gary Mintz and the members of the New York Giants Preservation Society, and Bill Klink for their assistance.

 

SOURCES

In addition to the sources cited in the Notes, the author consulted the following:

http://Baseball-Reference.com

http://Newspapers.com

 

NOTES

1  Jim Murray, “Willie Gets a Roasting,” Los Angeles Times, December 3, 1971: 18.

2  Associated Press, “Mays Heads Fielding Stars,” Poughkeepsie (New York) Journal, December 15, 1957: 2B.

3  Author telephone interview with Johnny Bench, October 7, 2022.

4  Randolph Linthurst, “Willie Mays First Season,” SABR Baseball Research Journal, No. 3, 1974, accessed online at https://sabr.org/journal/article/willie-mays-first-season/ on December 1, 2022.

5  John Shea, 24, Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid (New York: St. Martin’s Publishing Group, 2020), 74.

6  Shea, 72.

7  Shea, 241.

8  Shea, 241.

9  John Klima, Willie’s Boys (Hoboken, New Jersey: John Wiley & Sons. 2009), 181-183.

10 Bill Klink, “Willie’s Wonder Years,” Sports History. March 1989: 45-46.

11 “Diamond Dust: Feller, Reynolds to Duel Today,” New York Daily News, July 26, 1951: 69.

12 Gary Livacari, https://www.baseballhistorycomesalive.com/willie-mays-makes-an-incredible-catch/

13 Klink, “Willie’s Wonder Years.”

14 Jim McCulley, “Giants Do It Again! Flock Victims, 3-1,” New York Daily News, August 16, 1951: C20.

15 McCulley.

16 Dan Fields, “August 15, 1951: Willie Mays Defensive Gem Caps Giants Victory,” SABR Games Project, https://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/august-15-1951-willie-mays-defensive-gem-caps-giants-victory/, accessed online on December 1, 2022.

17 Dana Mozley, “Mays Catch Greatest, Giants, Dodgers Agree,” New York Daily News, April 19, 1952: C16.

18 Shea, 90.

19 Tom Shoop, “The Day Private Willie Mays Threw Out My Dad,” DefenseOne.com, February 21, 2021. https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2021/02/day-private-willie-mays-threw-out-my-dad/172187/.

20 Charles Hoff, “Out for a Sunday Drive” photo in the New York Daily News, August 16, 1954: 44.

21 Dick Young, “Walt: We’re Still 2nd; Leo: 40 games left to Play,” New York Daily News, August 16, 1954: C20.

22 Dick Young, “Dusty’s HR in 10th Wins Opener,” New York Daily News, September 30, 1954: C24.

23 Interview of Joe Amalfitano by John Shea, November 30, 2022.

24 Shea, 86.

25 Arnold Hano, A Day in the Bleachers (New York: Crowell, 1955), 23

26 “Musial HR in 12th Beats AL, 6-5,” New York Daily News, July 13, 1955: 64.

27 “Musial HR in 12th Beats AL, 6-5.”

28 Jim McCulley, “Mays Magnificent in Vain, 10-5,” New York Daily News, March 30, 1956: 46.

29 Jim McCulley, “Giants Win, 5-1; Then Bow, 7-3,” New York Daily News, August 1, 1956: 65.

30 George Kiseda, “Willie’s Catch Greatest,” Pittsburgh Sun-Telegraph, June 4, 1957: 22.

31 Dana Mozley, “Cards Trounce Giants, 2-1, 10-7; 3½ Off Pace,” New York Daily News, June 10, 1957: 58.

32 “6-Run Sixth Gives Cards Sweep Over NY, 2-1, 10-7,” Elmira (New York) Advertiser, June 10, 1957: 7.

33 Jack Harris, “Willie Amazes ’Em,” photo in Asbury Park (New Jersey) Press, June 10, 1957: 14.

34 Les Biederman, “Les Biederman’s Scoreboard: Willie Mays Pulls Another Robbery,” Pittsburgh Press, July 8, 1957: 19.

35 Curley Grieve, “Jones: Bush Hits Beat Me,” San Francisco Examiner, September 17, 1959: 3, 3.

36 Ernest K. Bennett, “Play of the Day,” Daily Independent Journal (San Rafael, California), September 17, 1959: 14.

37 Curley Grieve, “Defense Finally Has Its Day in the Sun,” San Francisco Examiner, September 14, 1959: 43

38 Curley Grieve, “Mays, Alou Fielding Gems Save the Day for Giants,” San Francisco Examiner, May 18, 1961: 53.

39 “Mays Catch of Long Bertell Drive Is Called Greatest,” Sacramento Bee, May 18, 1961: D1.

40 “Unscheduled Tumbling Act by Giant Star in Milwaukee Backfield,” San Francisco Examiner, June 23, 1963: 55.

41 Mike Rathet (Associated Press), “Mays Flamboyant, Modest, Breaks All-Star Records,” Chillicothe (Ohio) Gazette, July 10, 1963: 18.

42 George Ross, “Juan Halts Skid With His 19th Win,” Oakland Tribune, August 23, 1963: 43.

43 https://www.baseball-almanac.com/rb_ofas.shtml.

44 Harry Jupiter, “Desperation Peg Loses in L.A., 2-1.” San Francisco Examiner, May 18, 1966: 66.

45 Shea, 240.

46 Shea, 93.

47 Jim McGee, “Ron Hunt Hero of Giants Win,” San Francisco Examiner, April 12, 1970: C3.

48 Nelson George, Say Hey, Willie Mays! Documentary. HBO Sports, 2022.

49 Sam Fields, “Houston Fields Strong Astros,” Concordia (Texas) Sentinel, June 28, 1972: 6A.

50 Red Foley, “Hank Hits Pair, Trails Babe by 18; Mets Clipped, 4-2,” New York Daily News, July 9, 1973: C22.

51 Jack Lang, “Mays at 51, Still Gloved Bandit,” New York Daily News, October 4, 1981: 77.