Greatest Catch in Team's 50 Year History

[PeaveyFury]

Just watching the 1982 Harvey Wallbangers Highlight DVD (like I do every spring), and I saw the Oglivie catch in the corner during the last game of season against the Orioles. I tried to think of a, not only better catch, but also a more meaningful catch. I came up empty on both accounts.

 

I really don't know how he made that catch. Most do not even attempt to catch it because of how close it was to the wall and the the slide into it is an injury waiting to happen. Also, if he doesn't make that catch, the bases clear and the Brewers possibly or even probably lose that game. Although incomprehendable to me, 1982 could have turned from a crown jewel in the franchise's 50 year history to another 2014 and 2017 ultra collapse.

 

Cain had a few big ones to save games, but the Oglivie one meant more and was still more difficult, IMO. I'm partly drawing a blank for other catches, but it's tough to beat Spider-Man's catch.

 

Here's video of that catch:

 

Are my ears playing tricks on me, or is the Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell calling a BASEBALL game together?

[thebruce44]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

[pitchleague]

Just watching the 1982 Harvey Wallbangers Highlight DVD (like I do every spring), and I saw the Oglivie catch in the corner during the last game of season against the Orioles. I tried to think of a, not only better catch, but also a more meaningful catch. I came up empty on both accounts.

 

I really don't know how he made that catch. Most do not even attempt to catch it because of how close it was to the wall and the the slide into it is an injury waiting to happen. Also, if he doesn't make that catch, the bases clear and the Brewers possibly or even probably lose that game. Although incomprehendable to me, 1982 could have turned from a crown jewel in the franchise's 50 year history to another 2014 and 2017 ultra collapse.

 

Cain had a few big ones to save games, but the Oglivie one meant more and was still more difficult, IMO. I'm partly drawing a blank for other catches, but it's tough to beat Spider-Man's catch.

 

Here's video of that catch:

 

Are my ears playing tricks on me, or is the Keith Jackson and Howard Cosell calling a BASEBALL game together?

 

 

Your ears are working just fine. That's them all right!

 

On an aside, yesterday I clicked on that link and ended up watching from that moment until the rest of the game. The commericals were great LOL! But when an old Miller Lite ad popped up, it sent me down the rabbit hole for the next couple of hours watching all those old "less filling, tastes great" commercials. What a walk down memory lane! Some of them are still pretty funny (unless you don't know who any of those guys are!)

[djoctagone]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

wasn't it turner ward?

[Ron Robinsons Beard]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

wasn't it turner ward?

 

Definitely Brady Clark. I remember it well. One of the finest catches in the team's history, but it got next to no love nationally due to how terrible the team was at that time.

[WinkelsasVsSoriano]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

wasn't it turner ward?

 

Definitely Brady Clark. I remember it well. One of the finest catches in the team's history, but it got next to no love nationally due to how terrible the team was at that time.

 

Yeah, I mention it as one of my favorite catches as well earlier in the thread, but, like you, I haven't seen that play in ages. I thought it was one of the best catches I'd seen when it happened, but I'd like a fresh take on it because I don't remember it 100%, besides that it was at Coors Field.

[PinaMadness]

No doubt it was Benji's catch. I know the Brewers broke the game wide open in the ninth inning and won 10-2 but at the time it was a fairly close game late and with the batter representing the tying run. If Ben doesn't catch that, who knows what would've happened? Definitely a game changer that won the division for them and eventually got them to the World Series.

[thebruce44]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

 

 

Definitely Brady Clark. I remember it well. One of the finest catches in the team's history, but it got next to no love nationally due to how terrible the team was at that time.

 

Yeah, I mention it as one of my favorite catches as well earlier in the thread, but, like you, I haven't seen that play in ages. I thought it was one of the best catches I'd seen when it happened, but I'd like a fresh take on it because I don't remember it 100%, besides that it was at Coors Field.

 

Sorry I missed your post, but good to hear I am not the only one who remembers. I'd love to see a video, because if it is as I remember, it was probably the best catch I've ever seen, given no other context.

[jodo23]

For some reason I keep picturing a Brady Clark over the shoulder, backhand catch in my head, but I can't find anything on the internet about it.

I found the recap, but haven't been able to find video: https://www.espn.com/mlb/recap?gameId=230726127

[JohnBriggs12]

Count me in the Brady Clark catch camp too. That catch sticks in my brain. None others really do.

[stalton]

From a satisfying perspective, Gomez's catch of Votto's near HR wins it for me. Smug jerk.

 

Who, Gomez or Votto?

 

Ha! I meant Votto and his insistance that Gomez showing he had the ball.

[Zad Fnark]

I like Votto. He looks like a mob hitman.

[DuWayne Steurer]

GOmez's catch on the hill in Houston was ridiculous. The game context didn't really matter though, so it doesn't really go down in team history.

[MNBrew]

The catch that Paciorek made earlier in the game was legitimately better. It just wasn't the last out of the game.

Late to the party here but I'm glad someone else remembers the same thing I did. Yount's catch was cool but fairly easy -- one of those sliding or diving catches that the slide or dive made look more spectacular or dramatic than it actually needed to be. He was also Robin Yount. It's the "easy grab" answer to the question but not necessarily ultimately the right answer.

 

Jim Paciorek was pretty much known, at most, for being Tom Paciorek's little brother who lasted for part of a year in the majors. Mike Felder & Rick Manning (last year in the majors) were ahead of him as OF reserves.

 

Jim Paciorek's catch, as I recall, was on a ball far, far closer to ruining Nieves' no-hitter. I remember he was charging straight in and it wasn't 'til the very last instant that you knew he had it. It was in the middle of the game and the fact that he was charging straight in didn't make for nearly as cool of a look because of the camera angle, so there weren't glitzy replays to watch that captured as well how impressive the catch was. Fewer cameras were used at the average game in those days. Now you'd have 4-5 different HD & slo-mo views of it, not to mention a couple similar shots of the batter's face in disbelief that the guy actually caught the ball.

 

I'm not sure Paciorek had a better individual/team moment as a Brewer than that catch.

 

.... I remember NOT seeing the Oglivie one live b/c we lived in FL and had to watch the other game, relying on "the studio in NY" for the occasional highlight. It was a good catch, but I think part of the mystique about it, besides the game in which it occurred, is because there's not a good view of him actually making the catch. Howard & Keith didn't have it much if any better than the viewers did.

 

.... I remember that I saw the Brady Clark catch but I honestly don't remember what it looked like. His Brewer career was pretty ordinary but he made some better plays in the OF than you would expect.

 

.... At least a few of the Cain, Broxton, and Gomez HR-robbing catches have to be near the top of the list. I like the Gomez one on Votto, esp. b/c it ended the game & Votto's disbelief, but there are others in those three guys' cadre of highlights that were more spectacular and/or unexpected. Broxton had a couple in that series a couple summers ago against the Twins that were unbelievable. Cain's certainly had his share of ones like that the past couple years, too.

[nate82]

No love for Cameron?

 

[sveumrules]

Say what you will about defensive metrics, but since UZR/DRS came out in 2002/03 the Brewers CF have ranked 3rd by UZR (+68.1) & 2nd by DRS (+90).

 

Of course most of that is Cain, Gomez, Cameron & Broxton, but Tony Plush (+5.9 UZR/+5 DRS), Jim Edmonds (+6.8 UZR/+5 DRS in only 360 innings!) & Maverick Phillips (+5.3 UZR/+7 DRS in only 196 innings!!) all did their part too.

[Eye Black]

This thread made me think of the time Robin Yount made a leaping catch at the wall to rob a home run and end an inning. It was a televised game and when they came back from commercial they had to explain that the umpire asked Yount for the ball and he couldn’t produce it.

 

I can’t find the footage anywhere, but did find this reference on Reddit that I believe is actually inaccurate:

 

 

I have a book written by a (now dead) umpire, Durwood Merrill, in which he says Robin Yount did this on a walk-off homer by Kirby Puckett - 4-2 game, two runners on, two out for added drama. Supposedly Yount reached over the Metrodome's big wall and caught the fly ball. Yount pulled his glove back, high-fived the left fielder, and everyone started to run off the field.

 

“They posted a 4-2 final on the scoreboard. Then, as Robin came running past me, I yelled, "Hey, Robin, let me have the ball!" He stopped, shook his head, and laughed. He opened his glove to reveal nothing but leather. The ball was somewhere beyond the center field fence.”

 

So he signaled home run and all was well. The next day Yount told him he had in fact gotten glove on the ball, but it popped out when he hit the fence.

 

What sucks is that I have no idea if this actually happened, because Merrill's book places the event in 1992, and Play Index isn't giving me any info on such an event happening.

 

In my memory of the play it didn’t occur at the Metrodome like Merrill’s book apparently suggests. Some other folks on Reddit speculated it was this 1992 game versus the Twins at County Stadium. I don’t think it was that game either because I almost certain it was a night game (I know the play occurred very late in the game, and I thought it happened in extra innings), but I could certainly be misremembering since I was 9 or 10 at the time.

 

Edit: Just realized Durwood Merrill didn’t even cover that 1992 game which was also opening day, and certainly not the game where Yount faked a catch.

 

Anyone else remember the details of this great (non) catch?

[TURBO]

Say what you will about defensive metrics, but since UZR/DRS came out in 2002/03 the Brewers CF have ranked 3rd by UZR (+68.1) & 2nd by DRS (+90).

 

Of course most of that is Cain, Gomez, Cameron & Broxton, but Tony Plush (+5.9 UZR/+5 DRS), Jim Edmonds (+6.8 UZR/+5 DRS in only 360 innings!) & Maverick Phillips (+5.3 UZR/+7 DRS in only 196 innings!!) all did their part too.

 

Don't forget Domingo Santana's contribution.

[dlk9s]

As great as the ending to Nieves's no-hitter was, my brother and I used to goof on Yount's catch all the time. We would throw a ball in the air, easily catch it, then dive dramatically onto the bed. As kids, it was a constant source of entertainment.

[dlk9s]

As great as the ending to Nieves's no-hitter was, my brother and I used to goof on Yount's catch all the time. We would throw a ball in the air, easily catch it, then dive dramatically onto the bed. As kids, it was a constant source of entertainment.

[Baldkin]

Say what you will about defensive metrics, but since UZR/DRS came out in 2002/03 the Brewers CF have ranked 3rd by UZR (+68.1) & 2nd by DRS (+90).

 

Of course most of that is Cain, Gomez, Cameron & Broxton, but Tony Plush (+5.9 UZR/+5 DRS), Jim Edmonds (+6.8 UZR/+5 DRS in only 360 innings!) & Maverick Phillips (+5.3 UZR/+7 DRS in only 196 innings!!) all did their part too.

 

I've had Terrace Box seats since I moved to Milwaukee.... 16 years ago (damn, I'm old).

 

I love sitting up high and watching how outfielders track the ball. We've been absolutely blessed.

 

It was also amazing watching how many times Braun ran the wrong way his first few seasons in LF.

[Baldkin]

Say what you will about defensive metrics, but since UZR/DRS came out in 2002/03 the Brewers CF have ranked 3rd by UZR (+68.1) & 2nd by DRS (+90).

 

Of course most of that is Cain, Gomez, Cameron & Broxton, but Tony Plush (+5.9 UZR/+5 DRS), Jim Edmonds (+6.8 UZR/+5 DRS in only 360 innings!) & Maverick Phillips (+5.3 UZR/+7 DRS in only 196 innings!!) all did their part too.

 

I've had Terrace Box seats since I moved to Milwaukee.... 16 years ago (damn, I'm old).

 

I love sitting up high and watching how outfielders track the ball. We've been absolutely blessed.

 

It was also amazing watching how many times Braun ran the wrong way his first few seasons in LF.