24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid

by Willie Mays

There was no downplaying a catch Mays made at Candlestick Park less than a month before his thirty-ninth birthday. Cincinnati’s Bobby Tolan hit a ball above the cyclone fence in right-center that Bobby Bonds was chasing, but at the last moment, Mays dashed to the scene, used his left foot to brace himself against the fence and leap over the 375-foot marker to make the catch over Bonds. Neither called for the ball. It wasn’t that type of play. It wasn’t known if either could snag it. Both extended their gloves above the fence, and it was Mays who came down with it. The players collided and tumbled to the ground, still tangled. Mays fell on Bonds and lost his breath, and Bonds reached into Mays’ glove, pulled out the ball, and showed it to the umpires. The catch saved the game for Gaylord Perry, who pitched all nine innings in a 2–1 win. I knew Tolan could pull the ball, so I was able to get a good jump when he hit it in the gap. The only question was how I would catch the ball. We both went up for it. Bobby fell, I fell. I felt his knee in my stomach, and I was out a couple of seconds. I think that was just as good as the catch in the World Series.