HIGH-FLYING sports heroes
Benintendi leap draws comparison to Orr
Within hours, the image went viral: Red Sox outfielder Andrew Benintendi’s midair catch in Game 2 of the World Series against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a maneuver that could become as iconic as Bruins legend Bobby Orr’s celebratory dive after he scored the Stanley Cup winning goal nearly a half-century ago.
Benintendi’s was, for many fans, the perfect combination of form and function, legs outstretched in flight, right arm reaching for the ball within inches of the Green Monster.
“Look at it,” Charlie Helm, 57, of Washington, D.C., said as he stared at a photo of the catch yesterday in front of a statue of legendary Sox slugger Ted Williams outside Fenway Park. “Look at the height. Look at the focus. He’s got his eyes on the ball. He’s not worried about smashing into the Green Monster. It’s eyes on the prize. This is October baseball: You lose, you go home; every pitch, every single catch counts.”
Helm, who began rooting for the Sox when he was 9 or 10 after the Senators left D.C. in the early ’70s, said Benintendi’s catch should be immortalized in bronze like Williams outside Fenway and Orr outside the Garden.
“That,” he said, “would be awesome.”
Unlike Orr, however, “Benintendi was in control of himself,” Bob O’Reilly, 68, of Quincy noted, whereas the photo of Orr was taken as he was tripped after scoring the winning goal.
“If Andrew Benintendi becomes a superstar, if he acquires Bobby Orr’s status as a Boston legend, I can see his statue joining the other ones here,” Stephen Abramson, 69, of Norwood said outside Fenway.
At only 24, Benintendi is off to a stunning start, said Dan Teichert, 46, of Pittsfield, who had just taken a tour of Fenway with his wife and 15-year-old son ahead of today’s victory parade.
“I think the photo of his catch captures the gravity of it being a playoff game,” Teichert said. “You knew it was a career moment for him for sure. The human body right there is pretty close to perfection. He’s in flight, and he had to be in that exact position to make that catch.”
“It kind of capped off not only his season, but his catches were actually saving games,” he added. “If he has a few more championships, it’s not out of the question that he could join the other statues here.”
David Scott, 53, of Morrison, Ill., who bought tickets for Game 6, flew into Boston anyway yesterday, as he does for Red Sox games five or six times a year.
“Man, look at how high he got,” Scott said when he looked at a photo of Benintendi’s catch. “That was something else. He made probably three or four good catches during the whole series.”
“It’s just majestic; that’s really the only way to describe it,” said Dan Cantone, 28, of Merrimac. “There are very few left fielders in baseball who can make that kind of catch.”
But Benintendi has a long way to go before he is remembered in the same breath as Orr, the greatest defenseman of all time, Cantone said.
To Sue Bee of Medford, it didn’t matter.
“Give that man a guitar, and he looks like Van Halen playing, ‘Jump!’ ” Bee said. “It’s a pretty amazing catch that captured a lot of what the outfield has done this year with their defense and athleticism, the best in Major League Baseball. I think it will become as iconic as Bobby Orr. He saved that game and could end up in the Hall of Fame. Both had a profound impact on the game.”