“Robbing a Pirate: Willie Mays of the Giants, with his back to the diamond, takes Dick Rand’s long drive on cinder path between bleachers in centerfield.” So reads the caption accompanying John Orris’s New York Times photo capturing Mays’ spectacular grab. “Willie was going toward the Eddie Grant monument between the clubhouse stairways,” writes Roscoe McGowen, “when he gloved Rand’s long drive – nearly 470 feet from the plate.” The actual distance is probably closer to 430 feet, but it is still a prodigious poke and a tremendous run, especially given Mays’ shallow positioning against the light-hitting Rand. Frank Thomas hits three home runs on the day for the Pirates, who sweep the doubleheader, 10 – 6 and 8 – 1.

Willie Mays 1957

On July 7, 1957 “Robbing a Pirate: Willie Mays of the Giants, with his back to the diamond, takes Dick Rand’s long drive on cinder path between bleachers in centerfield.” So reads the caption accompanying John Orris’s New York Times photo capturing Mays’ spectacular grab. “Willie was going toward the Eddie Grant monument between the clubhouse stairways,” writes Roscoe McGowen, “when he gloved Rand’s long drive – nearly 470 feet from the plate.” The actual distance is probably closer to 430 feet, but it is still a prodigious poke and a tremendous run, especially given Mays’ shallow positioning against the light-hitting Rand. Frank Thomas hits three home runs on the day for the Pirates, who sweep the doubleheader, 10 – 6 and 8 – 1.

 

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