The fly ball left Joe Torre's bat and landed in Willie Montanez's glove in Busch Stadium's center field. By then, the astonishing had become routine. This was Aug. 5, 1972, and Montanez's catch completed a 5-0 victory for the Phillies, in a tidy 108 minutes, over the St. Louis Cardinals - Steve Carlton's 17th win that year, his sixth shutout, just another night of brilliance during one of the most brilliant seasons of starting pitching in Major League Baseball history.
But there's an interesting footnote to that game that's revealed if you review its box score nearly 43 years later.