• Article by: Staff report
• Star Tribune
• May 11, 2007 - 9:06 PM

Twins center fielder Torii Hunter made one of his best catches ever -- and perhaps one of pro baseball's five best ever -- when he ran down Juan Uribe's bases-loaded drive in the fifth. Hunter looked as if he were running a fly pattern to dead center field as he ran down and caught the drive with his back to the infield.

"I couldn't find it for a moment." Hunter said. "Then I found it and it was right in my face."

Hunter slipped as he caught the ball, landing on his tailbone and causing a bruise.

Outfielder Michael Cuddyer said it was the best catch he's seen Hunter make.

"I told him, 'You know, I've seen you make a lot of good catches, but as difficulty is concerned that was the best one I've seen,' " Cuddyer said. "He slipped. He was going in different directions. His head was down 90 percent of the time."

The New York Giants' Willie Mays is often credited with the best catch in baseball.

"The Catch," according to Wikipedia, occurred on Sept. 29, 1954, during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians at the Polo Grounds in New York.

The score was tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning. With runners on first and second, Cleveland's Vic Wertz crushed a pitch to deep center field. In many stadiums the shot would have been a home run and given the Indians a 5-2 lead. But the Polo Grounds was spacious and Mays, who was playing in, made an on-the-run, over-the-shoulder catch to make the out.