Paul Blair has passed away.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Originally Posted by djrhanover

I always marveled at Blair's defensive abilities. On a fly ball deep to center, Blair would go to a spot, camp under the ball, and make the catch, while others would still be running to the ball. He was far and away one of the best ever.

That's what distinguishes the great center fielders, the ability to judge the ball off the bat. If you read Mays' description of "The Catch," that's exactly what he did -- as soon as he saw the ball off the bat, he just turned and ran to where he knew it was going. He supposedly said to Irvin jogging in, "had it all the way," and it's portrayed as humor, but it probably wasn't.