CATCH AS CATCH CAN

The baseball that came bounding off the bat of Yogi Berra in Yankee Stadium one day last week meant a lot to those out in right field who saw it coming their way. To two girls fondly hugging the edge of the Yankee bullpen, and to Pitcher Bobby Shantz inside it, it meant a home run for their favorite catcher. To a small boy sitting behind the 344-foot marker it was an obvious threat to the part in his hair. And to the men on his right it was a chance to impress a cowering lady. But to Whitey Herzog, who plays right field for the Kansas City Athletics, it was another good time to prove that the Yankees are vincible. With a mighty leap he made his point, robbed Berra of a homer, saddened the girls and supplied New York Herald Tribune Photographer Ted Kell with one of the best baseball pictures of the year. Unfortunately for Herzog, coming down was not the success going up had been. He fell with a crash against the concrete barrier and had to be carried off the field.

Two innings later it was spectacular Kansas City fielding all over again as Center Fielder Bill Tuttle (right) took a possible in-the-park home run from Bill Skowron. The ball and Tuttle, eyes cast over his shoulder, raced to a spot some 440 feet from the plate where he made a remarkable backhanded catch. And the menacing figures on his uniform showed plainly that it was Skowron whose number was up. As Tuttle veered away from the Stadium monument to Lou Gehrig, oldtimers said it was the greatest catch in the Stadium since the great Joe DiMaggio caught one behind the monument. Said Yankee Gil McDougald: "This guy Tuttle has shown me the greatest center-fielding I've ever seen." Bill Skowron, with Yogi Berra not voting, was moved to agree.

TWO PHOTOS