Catch This! Yanks Win! Umpire Blows Call When Boy Nabs Fly

Bernie Williams joined Chris Chambliss and Reggie Jackson, famous for October homers in Yankee Stadium. And 12-year-old Jeff Maier joined Al Gionfriddo and Sandy Amoros, famous for their postseason glove work there.

Three innings after Maier stuck his glove over the right-field fence and turned a probable flyout into a game-tying homer, Williams hit a shot so deep into the left-field stands that even a fishing net couldn’t have stopped it.

So instead of Baltimore winning the opener of the American League championship series, the Yankees escaped with a 5-4, 11-inning victory Wednesday.

“This is about as close as it comes to one play beating you,” Orioles manager Davey Johnson said.

Maier’s move - a day too late for the Gold Glove Awards - gave an eighthinning homer to New York’s Derek Jeter that tied the score 4-4. Baltimore’s Tony Tarasco had settled under Jeter’s fly against the 9-foot wall in right.

But Maier, a Little League pitcher and center fielder, stuck out his gloved left hand - Mizuno, but not even an autographed model - above Tarasco’s more expensive Rawlings glove and pulled the ball away. Right field umpire Rich Garcia called it a home run, then admitted after looking at a replay that he blew the call.

“I thought the ball was going out of the ballpark,” Garcia said. “I saw the fan reach out; he did not reach down. In my judgment, he did not interfere with the guy attempting to catch the ball. It probably was a situation where the ball would have hit the wall.”

Garcia said that if he had looked at a replay before the call, he would have ruled the play a double. Tarasco disagreed.

“It was like a magic trick, really. I was about to close my glove,” he said. “Merlin must be in the house, abracadabra somewhere.”

Garcia said he asked the other umpires for their opinions, but none saw the play well enough to overrule him. Johnson was ejected during the ensuing argument and protested because the Yankees didn’t have security in the right-field corner to prevent interference.

During last week’s first round of the playoffs, a fan in the left-field corner reached out to catch a home run by Juan Gonzalez of the Rangers.

“I was told there would be security there so this would not happen,” Johnson said.

Security was increased - but to prevent fans from throwing anything at Roberto Alomar. Still the focus of attention after his spitting incident with umpire John Hirschbeck on the last weekend of the regular season, Baltimore’s All-Star second baseman was booed heartily each time he went to the plate.

Alomar went 1 for 6 with three strikeouts, but made a great play to throw out Cecil Fielder in the sixth.

However, Maier’s defensive play was more critical.

“I was just trying to catch the ball,” the young fan from Old Tappan, N.J., said. “I feel bad for the Baltimore fans. But as a Yankee fan, if I helped the team I feel pretty good. I think I had a right to catch it because I thought it was going to go out.”

“That didn’t win the game, Bernie won the game,” Jeter said.

What would he say to Maier:

“Thank you. Reach over all you want,” Jeter said.