Ron Swoboda on Outfield Play
Before Endy Chavez, “The Catch” in Mets history referred to the diving snare made by Ron Swoboda in the 1969 World Series.
I had the great pleasure of talking to Ron about that catch and how he turned himself — through hard work, pride, and dedication — into a Major League outfielder capable of making one of the most legendary catches in the history of New York baseball.
If you are an outfielder, a parent of an outfielder, or a baseball coach, you must listen to this podcast, because Ron provides plenty of tips and techniques on how to play the outfield — and he pulls no punches (there’s one part where he criticizes Shane Victorino!).
You can listen to the podcast through iTunes or at the OnBaseball.com site here:
Ron Swoboda on Outfield Play
It drives me nuts that the Yankees regularly promote their history through their TV station with shows like Yankeeography, and the Mets don’t take advantage of their opportunity to do the same with SNY.
How many years was SNY broadcasting before they showed some of the ’69 WS games? And now they’re finally bringing out some other items, like the “yearbook” shows from the 60s. It’s a start, but still way below what should have already been happening. There ought to be an entire 60-minute show about Ron Swoboda’s career, leading up to The Catch, just like Yankees do with seemingly every player ever to wear the uniform (except Horace Clarke LOL!). Last night I watched the “Yankeeography” of Mike Mussina. Really? Mike Mussina? Why can’t I as a Mets fan watch a similar show about Jerry Koosman or Jerry Grote or even Lee Mazzilli?
Based on the ratio of putouts per inning, Swoboda usually had a higher ratio than the other rightfielders on his team, whether the Mets or Yankees. One year Swoboda had a higher ratio than Gaspar, who was known as a good outfielder. I tracked Swoboda from his first year with the Mets to the last year with the Yankees, and even during his first year his outfield stats were good.
Fan anecdotes about Swoboda note many great and memorable catches.
During 1965, Swoboda had a higher ratio of putouts per inning in centerfield than Billy Cowan, Cleon Jones and Johnny Lewis. In rightfield, Swoboda had a higher ratio than Johnny Lewis and Joe Christopher.
My recollection is that Cown was a good centerielder, and Lewis was no slouch in rightfield.
Putouts per inning is a function of range, positioning, sure handedness and many other factors. Swoboda tended to have the highest, or close to highest ratio on the teams he played on, which strongly suggests that the ratio indicates good fielding skills.