Deeper look at Willie Mays “The Catch” after his passing on June 18

(KBSI) – Willie Mays, the electrifying Hall of Fame baseball player for the New York and San Francisco Giants passed away June 18 at the age of 93.

Willie Mays was nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid” due to his enthusiasm and love for the game of baseball. Throughout his career, Mays played in 24 different All-Star games and was the National League MVP twice. Mays also crushed 660 home runs during his tenure, ranking him to this day, 6th on the all time home runs list.

Kyle Peach is a co-host on the “That’s a Winner” Cardinals podcast. He says Mays’ historic career and takes a deeper look at the unforgettable play “The Catch.”

“Yeah, so one of the things that I think is kind of unique with the whole Willy Mays and the catch, I mean, obviously one of the most well-known plays and all the history of major league baseball by one of the best to ever to do it and I think a lot of people in our area don’t realize the St. Louis Cardinals/southern Illinois connection to the catch by Willie Mays because the pitcher in Game One of the 1954 World Series that threw the pitch that Willie Mays ultimately made the miraculous catch on was actually born in Cardinal country and Mount Carmel, Illinois and southeastern Illinois,” said Peach.

Mays’ most remembered play in his career was “The Catch” in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series. It brought fans everywhere to their feet and is still remembered to this day. What many don’t know is the friendship between Don Liddle, the pitcher who threw out “the Catch” and Willie Mays.

“Right in the heart of Cardinal nation, and Don Liddle was the picture who threw that pitch and threw out their lives,” said Peach. “Don Liddle and Willie Mays were close. Friends teammates says the Giants are part of that World Series. In fact, Don came back to the winning pitcher in Game Four of the World Series and 54 had a short major league career and actually finished his career before retirement in a St. Louis Cardinals uniform. So there is a little bit of a Cardinal southern Illinois connection to Willie Mays and the catch that maybe not many people know.”

Mays made an impact on and off the field to many people watching his games at home, or at the park, including fans Tina and Lee Pattengale who talked about their experience watching Mays.

“I watched Willie Mays play in the San Francisco stadium in San Francisco in the mid 60s and I went with my father and my great uncle. I knew who Will was but I didn’t know who he really was until I was much older.”

“Watched him over the year you know he’s a great great baseball player so i mean its an honor to remember him.”

Peach says the families of Willie Mays and Don Liddle continued to stay close through the years

“Mays and Don Liddle and their families remain close through the years sending holiday cards to one another at Christmas time. You’ll see a picture that’s autographed by Willie Mays sitting next to Don and it says best friends and so they stay close throughout, throughout their time on Earth. And I am sure they are reenacting the catch up in heaven right now. Those two have quite a baseball story to be played out there no doubt.”

Peach also pointed out that Don Liddle became a “local celebrity” in southern Illinois saying that he even has “a newly painted billboard of his old baseball card on the side of the building in Mt. Carmel in southeast Illinois.”

Don Liddle was very passionate about his hometown in Mt. Carmel, Illinois. Liddle was born at the home of the Aces on May 25, 1925 and later passed away in Mt. Carmel on June 5, 2000.

Kyle Peach also told about the untold story of Don Liddle’s glove that now sits in the baseball shrine, remembering “The Catch” in the Hall of Fame.

“The glove made its way through the family,” said Peach. “In fact he had family members that were using that glove after he had used it playing Little League baseball playing catch in the yard and nobody really understood what they had a hold of.”

Peach says that “this was going on until sometime later, and now that glove is in Cooperstown as part of ‘the catch’ so kind of a crazy story that that glove saw some more baseball life before it went to the baseball shrine.”