Baseball history has long been subject to folklore and exaggeration. Did Mickey Mantle actually hit a ball 600 feet in Washington DC? (Probably not) Did Babe Ruth call his shot in the 1932 World Series? (maybe?) Did Satchel Paige really intentionally walk the bases loaded so he could face Josh Gibson and strike him out on three pitches? (Probably!)
Tall tales in baseball faded away once television broadcasts became ubiquitous. But one player was able to maintain folklore status in the video age, a man who defied gravity, who made you think the video had been altered in some way because your eyes did not believe what you had just saw.