Font Resize"How could you leave off Vic Wertz?"
Wertz, indeed, was one of York County's most accomplished professional athletes.
If his long fly ball had eluded Willie Mays in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Wertz would have been on that York Sunday News' Top 10 list. He might have contended for Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame.
But Mays' execution of "The Catch" relegated Cleveland's Vic Wertz to a footnote in national history.
Mays hauled in the catch over his shoulder, wheeled and threw the ball into the infield, keeping a runner from scoring. This Game 1 of the World Series remained tied, and the Giants went on to beat the Indians in extra innings. The New York team went on to a series sweep.
A headline that appeared on Jim Hubley's York Daily Record column about Wertz at the time of his death summed up the moment: "The man who hit the ball Mays caught."
Also overlooked are the stats: "The Catch" was Wertz's only out of the game. He hit two singles, a double and a triple and went 8-for-16 for the series.
Further, his drive in New York's Polo Grounds spawned an often-repeated quip from a sportswriter, "It would have been a home run in any other park, including Yellowstone."
When I think of Vic Wertz's story, I think of York County.
It's a region
Baltimore and Harrisburg.
Its people can do great things -- and Wertz did, indeed -- but it's subsumed by those of greater accomplishments or standing or history.
Wertz gained a spot in the Michigan Hall of Fame, but 266 home runs, 1,692 hits and .277 batting average never gained the attention of the coveted hallowed Hall in Cooperstown.
He was overshadowed by the likes of Willie Mays and others with more flash, stats, talent -- and fortune.
The story of this solid professional is the story of his home county.
Vic Wertz's baseball career included two moments eclipsed by "The Catch."
The year after the World Series, he was afflicted with polio but bounced back the next season with 32 home runs, his personal best.
Get that? He recovered from polio to play Major League Baseball.
Imagine what analyst Ken Rosenthal, who started his career in York, and his Fox TV colleagues would say about a current member of the Phillies and Yankees who came back from an illness as serious as polio to hit 32 home runs.
And in 1958, he broke his ankle 25 games into the season. That ended that campaign, but he came back for four more seasons.
What would Fox say of this Comeback Kid times two.
After retirement, Vic Wertz lived near Detroit.
His residence away from York has left a void in York County's collective memory of this accomplished local product.
To Hubley, the comeback from polio and a broken ankle were indicative of Vic Wertz:
"Wertz was indeed a fighter," he wrote.
In this respect, his home county should strive to emulate its native son in its bid to move its considerable assets from under the shadow of its neighbors.
James McClure is editor of the York Daily Record/Sunday News. He writes daily about local history on his blog, www.yorktownsquare.com. To contact him, e-mail jem@ydr.com.
About Wertz
Vic Wertz's York Daily Record obituary story on July 8, 1983 stated:
Wertz was born in 1925, son of Paul I. and Manerva Wertz.
When he died 58 years later during heart surgery, his survivors included his wife, Lucille, and two children from his first marriage to Dallastown native Bernice Wineka.
He lived his later years near Detroit, owning a beer distributorship there.
