Hano

Admiral Reynolds had been stationed at Hano, which is near Matvick, where the convoys assembled, and which were with very little loss protected through the

Memoirs and Correspondence of Admiral Lord de Saumarez. Vol II John Ross 1816

Arnold Hano estimated that the ball would have traveled 600 feet had it not hit the stadium.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

Hano, who wrote the book on the Catch, had now seen one better: “It is my own opinion that you cannot make a better play than that one—the run, the catch, the improvised thrusting of legs at the board to break the immediate impact, the daring of the boards, the holding of the ball despite the heavy crash to the ground.”

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

He never had any explanation for his streaks, though in this case, one of his longtime chroniclers, Arnold Hano, had a theory.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

Hano swore that the slight breeze had “developed a backbone” and pushed the ball back into play.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

In his first month or two, the baseball writer Arnold Hano concluded, Mays “had revolutionized outfield play: outfielders today must be shortstops in their approach to ground-ball base hits.”

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

“It was my first time in my thirty-five-plus years of watching ball games I had ever seen a man beat out a routine ground ball that had been fielded cleanly,” Arnold Hano wrote.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

Hano wrote, At this point, I think, the Indians quit.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

“I do not believe I ever saw a more impressive display in my baseball life,” Hano said.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010

But Mays whirled and threw “like some olden statue of a Greek javelin hurler, his head twisted away to the left as his right arm swept out and around,” Hano wrote.

WILLIE MAYS JAMES S. HIRSCH 2010