Dissecting a photo of a steal of home

Monte Irvin steals home in the first inning of the first
game of the 1951 World Series.

The above photo was moved Tuesday by The Associated Press as part of its coverage of the death of Hall of Famer Monte Irvin. I can't help but be intrigued by it.

Note, for example, the catcher's box. It's not the rectangle we're used to seeing now; it's a trapezoid. When, I wonder, did that change? Did catchers ever actually set up in the far reaches of that box?

Note, too, where catcher Yogi Berra is. He's taken a giant stride forward -- and he's still a couple of feet behind home plate. I infer from this that Berra (and his catching colleagues of the era) set up further from the plate than do today's backstops.

Then there's the sheer audacity of the play shown. Irvin was the Giants' cleanup hitter. It's the first inning of the first game of the World Series. The batter, Bobby Thomson, is just off one of the most famous home runs in baseball history ("The Giants win the pennant!"). I doubt there is a cleanup hitter today who would consider stealing home in such a situation -- or, for that matter, a manager who would allow it.

And why, you might ask, is Thomson on the ground? Let me set the stage, courtesy of the play-by-play to be found on Baseball Reference. Facing Yankee starter Allie Reynolds, leadoff hitter Eddie Stanky grounded out, and Al Dark flew to right. Hank Thompson walked, and Irvin singled. Whitey Lockman then hit a ground-rule double, scoring Thompson, which brought Thomson to the plate. Reynolds was a right-handed pitcher, and he was presumably using the windup. When he saw Irvin break for the plate, he fired the pitch up and in, forcing Thomson out of Berra's way (and if he hit Thomson, the play is dead and Irvin has to return to third). But as you can see here, Irvin is into his slide as Berra is catching the pitch, and Berra has a long way to go to get the tag on Irvin.

The steal gave the Giants a 2-0 lead, and they won 5-1. But the Yankees won the series in six games.

Monte Irvin, 1919-2016

Monte Irvin poses in spring training, 1952, the year
after he led the National League in RBIs.

It could have been Monte Irvin.

The overwhelming consensus among the people involved in the Negro Leagues in the 1940s was that Monte Irvin was the best candidate to break baseball's color barrier.

Effa Manley, the owner of the Newark Eagles, the team Irvin played for in segregated ball:

“Monte was the choice of all Negro National and American League club owners to serve as the No. 1 player to join a white major league team. We all agreed, in meeting, he was the best qualified by temperament, character, ability, sense of loyalty, morals, age, experiences and physique to represent us as the first black player to enter the white majors since the Walker brothers back in the 1880s.

“Of course, Branch Rickey lifted Jackie Robinson out of Negro ball and made him the first, and it turned out just fine.”

The choice of Jackie Robinson over Irvin remains intriguing. Both were college men; both served in the military during World War II; neither was a particularly young man when they got the call to white ball, although Robinson was a couple years younger. And Irvin did not, by all accounts, have Robinson's temper, which had to be a risk Rickey weighed carefully. Perhaps Rickey gauged Robinson's rage as a motivating force to keep persevering through the inevitable abuse.

This all comes up, of course, because Irvin died Monday night. He was 96. His death leaves Willie Mays and Hank Aaron as the sole surviving Hall of Famers who played in the Negro Leagues.

Look at Irvin's major league record, and you see a good but not necessarily great player. He had only three seasons in which he had 500 or more plate appearances. He also didn't get to play in the white majors until he was 30, so the statistical record is flawed. As Bill James wrote in explaining why he was unable to rank Irvin with any confidence among left fielders in baseball history, Irvin had one foot in one world and the other in another.

Irvin, I'm confident, was a helluva player in his day, but there wasn't much left to his prime when he joined the New York Giants. He had enough to carve out eight seasons and leave a legacy.