The Catch, The Spill, and The Camera
Two of the greatest baseball photos in history are forever-linked by a camera. Behold, the Hulcher.
Baseball is boring to photograph — until it’s not.
New York Daily News photographer Frank Hurley was positioned behind home plate for Game One of the 1954 World Series. It was Hurley’s first time shooting with a Hulcher, a 70mm film camera invented by Charles Hulcher that was originally designed for NASA to capture high-speed sequences of rocket launches.
In the top of the 8th, the Indians’ Vic Wertz cranked one to deep center field, sailing over the head of Giants legend Willie Mays. Miraculously, Mays chased down the ball and made an over-the-shoulder catch that is often hailed as the greatest play in baseball history.
It’s also one of the greatest photos in baseball history — made possible by the Hulcher.
Everything about Hurley’s photo is sublime: the scale, the moment, the details, the clothes. Scan the crowd and you’ll find dozens of stories happening all at once. See the boy and the cop just over the wall? Or the cheering women? How about that guy peeking…