By now, many of you have probably seen Chris Coghlan’s slide/dive over Yadier Molina last night in St. Louis. If you haven’t, here it is. Take a look:
It was a great play, and it’s great we can share it and see it over and over again. But while it was great, it was not unique. Virtually the same play happened on June 13, 1969. The Cubs were playing the Reds in Cincinnati. The Cubs had led 4 to 0 and 8 to 6, but the Reds kept coming back. The game was tied 8 to 8 in the top of the tenth. Al Spangler led off by grounding out to the pitcher. Next up was Jimmy Qualls1, who had come up from the Cubs AAA farm team in Tacoma a few days before. Qualls doubled. Jim Hickman struck out, and Don Kessinger was walked intentionally. That brought up Paul Popovich. I’ll let Ray Sons of the Chicago Daily News take the story from here:
“Popovich laced his third hit of the night to right field and Qualls broke from second base.
Bobby Tolan, the Reds’ right fielder, fielded the ball quickly and fired it home.
[Pat] Corrales [the Reds’ catcher], 195 pounds, blocked the basepath about a dozen feet up the line toward third. The ball and 155-pound Qualls arrived simultaneously.
Jim dived over the crouching catcher. ‘It was the only way I could get by him,’ Qualls explained later. Corrales raised up as the Cub hurtled over his back. ‘He caught my leg with his arm and lifted me up,’ Qualls said.
Jim overshot the plate and landed on his back.”2
Jim Enright of Chicago Today picks up the story from here:
“Now came the second half of the spectacular play, Corrales and Qualls crawling as fast as they could, trying to reach the plate first. It was a photo finish, with Umpire Al Barlick giving Qualls the safe sign, in what has to be one of the most thrilling and unusual plays of the season.”3
It truly was thrilling, and I was lucky enough to be watching the game on WGN-TV. While they didn’t have Twitter or ESPN to show it and show it again, what we do have is these pictures, which the Chicago Tribune printed on June 15, 1969, from WGN’s film clip of the game:
Oh yes, the Cubs wound up scoring five more runs in the tenth and won the game 14 to 8.
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1 Jimmy Qualls is probably better known for breaking up Tom Seaver’s bid for a perfect game on July 9, 1969, with a one-out single in the top of the ninth inning at Shea Stadium. That was great, too.
2 Ray Sons, “Hustle! Qualls’ scoring somersault opens gates for Cubs’ win,” Chicago Daily News, June 14, 1969.
3 Jim Enright, “Qualls tunes up for army life,” Chicago Today, June 14, 1969. Re the title of this article: Qualls had to report to Ft. Lewis, in Washington state, for his two-week Army Reserve training session the next day.
UPDATE (4/27/17 11:50 am): I had to change the video of the Chris Coghlan slide/dive. MLB, as part of its continuing effort to make baseball less accessible to casual fans, blocked the original video I included.
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