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“Bobby Richardson and the 1962 World Series” Photo Gallery
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I came up with the idea of an ongoing series of essays highlighting the greatest World Series catches of all time. I suggested this to Michael Keedy and he decided to run with it. With his unique, witty writing style, it should go over well with our readers. He’ll be featuring plays that were made when, as he says, “Everything was on the line.” This should be a lot of fun! First up, Bobby Richardson who we see in the featured photo, hatless, as the Yankees mob Ralph Terry following Bobby’s grab to end the 1962 World Series.
Michael Keedy’s New Series: The Greatest World Series Catches Of All Time!
No. Ten: Bobby Richardson, 1962
“I’d rather be lucky than good!” -Lefty Gomez
When Lefty coined those prescient words in the 1930s, he couldn’t know that Bobby Richardson, a mere toddler at the time, would later become a perfect, on-field embodiment of just what old “Goofy” was talking about. Although a superb post-season member of the championship-rich New York Yankees in mid-century America, Richardson had (and has) the dubious honor of being the only man ever named MVP of the World Series while playing for the losing team. Bobby also has the distinction of being among the fortunate few to grab the final out for the winning team in the bottom of the last inning of the seventh game with everything hanging in the balance. It’s a feat he managed just two years later. “From a jack to a king”? No, from good to lucky, in one quick turn of fortune.
“Lady Luck” Shines on the Pirates in 1960
The Pittsburgh Pirates, outscored in the 1960 Series by more than double, had Lady Luck to thank for their world championship season, remembered by many for Bill Mazeroski’s walk-off homer in Game Seven. (Mickey Mantle, who would appear in eleven series altogether, said it was the only time in his post-season experience that the better team came up short.)
As for Richardson, he batted a cool .367, racked up a .667 slugging percentage, and drove home a total of 12 runners, an all-time record then and since. ‘S’all good, man! But not at all lucky.
Bobby got to watch from second, and kiss another world title goodbye, as Maz scampered around the bases with the winning run in the bottom of the ninth. (We hear you loud and clear, Lefty!) Richardson went home to South Carolina with his MVP trophy for being so good, and the championship went to Pittsburgh on account of—well, dumb luck, if you don’t mind, considering the Pirates were outscored by a measly 27-55 in the series.
1962: “It Was Deja Vu all over Again,” So Said Yogi!
Fast-forward to 1962, add a dollop of deja vu, and here the Yanks are again in Game Seven, bottom of the ninth, this time clinging to life and a one-run lead over the Giants. They got this far on the shutout pitching of their 23-game-winning starter, the very guy who had grooved a fatal, belt-high slider with nothing on it to Mazeroski two years before, darn the luck!
With but one out to get, the winning runs in scoring position and Orlando Cepeda on deck, Ralph Terry fed Willie McCovey an inside fastball, then watched in astonishment and relief as Bobby Richardson, shaded somewhat abnormally toward first, speared McCovey’s would-be game-winner, a screamer on the rise, at shoulder-height, then squeezed the ball tight with his glove near the dirt.
Suddenly, and dramatically, Terry had made the most of a precious second chance gifted by the gods of baseball, and the series belonged to the Yankees, yet again. (McCovey, commenting ruefully years later on his own luck, told a crowd of well-wishers at his Hall-of-Fame induction that he would prefer to be remembered not so much for a storied career that included 521 home runs, a Rookie-of-the-Year and Most Valuable Player Award, but “as the guy who hit the ball over Bobby Richardson’s head in the seventh game.”)
Bobby’s Catch Among the Greatest!
In addition to underscoring a telling point of whimsy made by Lefty Gomez a quarter-century earlier, does Richardson’s game-saver, monumental as it was for the Yankees and so devastating and deflating for the Giants, rank among the all-time greatest of catches in World Series history? I happen to think so, but this much is sure: Reliable, acceptable criteria for judging what constitutes “the greatest play” are highly subjective by definition, eternally debatable, and hence a colossal challenge to consensus-building, even for dedicated fans of the same cherished era and ballclub.
I’m not thinking so much of fantastic plays per se, such as Brooks Robinson’s diving stops and impossible throws to nip the runner from an adjacent area code; or Bill Wambsganss’s unassisted triple play against the Brooklyn Robins more than a century ago; or Joe Dimaggio’s deep catch at the Polo Grounds in ’36. Spectacular as they were, all those acrobatic moments happened without even an individual game on the line, let alone the series itself. No, I submit that we should hone in upon eye-popping catches made when the stakes could not have been higher, e.g., unreal grabs by Ron Swoboda, Tommy Agee, Dwight Evans, or Al Gionfriddo, when virtually everything was riding on the result.
As Michael Says: “Cue the Second-Guessers!”
Johnny Carson liked to say, “You buy the premise, you buy the bit.” With that, over the next few weeks, I’ll offer up one man’s thoughtful estimations of the all-time, top-ten series catches, in ascending order. (I’ll probably be ducking for cover after each one, considering the current market value of personal opinions in this lethally divided country of ours!)
For openers, I do believe Bobby Richardson’s most fortunate snare deserves a place on the list, considering that it not only saved a game. It clearly preserved a series win that would otherwise have gone down the drain. Because it was a lucky catch, made by the right guy standing in just the right spot at the right time, I hereby raise a wet finger to the winds and give it a Number Ten ranking, nothing higher. Cue the second-guessers, and let our little hot-stove drama unfold! May you enjoy it as much as I.
Michael Keedy
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