Endy Chavez’s catch almost didn’t happen

Although the Mets finally misplaced the sport, Endy Chavez’s 2006 NLCS Game 7 catch is remembered as one of many biggest in postseason historical past. There’s maybe no one extra synonymous with one play.

“My name is not Endy Chavez anymore, it’s Endy Catch,” Chavez jokes in a cellphone interview.

The state of affairs could not have been extra intense: The Mets and Cardinals have been tied, 1-1, within the sixth inning on a heat October evening at Shea Stadium. Jim Edmonds led off first base and perennial All-Star Scott Rolen dug into the batter’s field in opposition to Oliver Pérez. St. Louis was on the point of its second World Series look in three years, whereas the Mets hoped to get to their first Fall Classic in six seasons.

Rolen did not waste any time, swinging on the first pitch from Pérez. It was a laser, destined to clear the left-field fence after which some. Yadier Molina prayed Chavez would not catch the ball, however the Mets left-fielder had a very good bounce on it.

“When I saw the hit, I knew it would be right at the fence,” Chavez remembers. “So, I just tried to get to the fence first before the ball. I ran as fast as I could and timed the ball to where I could make the jump.”

And then, magic. An unreal house run theft and double play.

“I thought the whole stadium would fall apart,” Chavez says. “It was crazy. I’ve never heard a sound like that. I wanted to cover my ears.”

But what if I instructed you … that Chavez almost dropped the ball? What if Chavez instructed you that?

“I didn’t even know if I could jump that high,” Chavez says. “I did not really feel like there was a giant p.c that I might catch it. I used to be stunned when it hit my glove. The means you bought stunned is similar means I received stunned. I used to be like, ‘Oh, it is right here.’

You may even see the shocked look on Chavez’s face when he sees the ball on the tip of his glove.

You may see how his glove kind of bends over the fence on the apex of his leap.

“Yeah, my glove almost went over the wall with the ball as a home run,” Chavez laughs.

“I think the reason I held it is that I wore a batting glove,” Chavez says. “The glove went off of my hand, but held on because of the strong grip of the batting glove.”

And as soon as he got here again down from his bounce, although he had seen it on the high of his glove, Chavez nonetheless wasn’t positive the place the ball was. He thought it might have flipped out of his grasp and onto the sector. The double play was in jeopardy, too.

“I looked for the ball in the grass to try and get Edmonds at home,” Chavez says. “I didn’t have a very good grip and thought I maybe threw it in the air. But when I was looking for the ball there, I saw it still at the top of my glove.”

You can type of see him realizing it is nonetheless there right here on this photograph.

Chavez knew he needed to be fast to show two.

“Well, [the ball’s] here and I looked for where Edmonds was,” Chavez recollects. “And I saw him stopping around shortstop trying to go back to first base. And I said to myself, ‘You better hurry because we got a chance to get you,’ and that was it.”

After the play was over and Chavez had carried out his two curtain calls and heard his identify chanted by the sold-out Shea crowd, he nonetheless could not consider it occurred.

“Even when I went to the dugout and saw it on the screen, I thought, ‘Wow, that was me?'” Chavez says.

Fortunately, it was him. Chavez made the catch and cemented himself into postseason baseball historical past. He’s tagged on social media with the video, with out fail, each October.

“I mean, you never get tired of the love from the people, the fans, from family,” Chavez says.

And the truth that he virtually dropped the ball, that this whole second almost by no means existed, most likely makes it that a lot sweeter.