World Series History: Five Amazing Defensive Plays (With Video)
Mickey Mantle Saves Don Larsen’s Perfect Game
This one has a little kick to it because it came during the only perfect game ever pitched in a World Series game. When “The Mick” first arrived in the big leagues, he came with blazing speed and power. Much of that speed was stolen from him on one play at Yankee Stadium when he went racing after a ball that the declining Joe DiMaggio should have caught, severely twisting his knee when his foot got caught in a drainage indentation.
After that, Mickey Mantle would never be noted for his speed and grace. But for one moment, he ran to the deepest part of Yankee Stadium to track down a ball hit by Gil Hodges to save Don Larsen‘s masterpiece.
As a side note, Mantle would later “compliment” Larsen saying he was “easily the greatest drinker” he ever knew—an ultimate compliment of sorts from Mantle, who along with fellow Yankees Whitey Ford and Billy Martin were well known for their hard partying.
But here is the video of that catch in the days when Yankee Stadium measured 461 ft. to straightaway center field and three monuments stood on the playing field. It’s a short one so you might want to hit it a couple of times more…