Polo Grounded

Sal Yvars, the best catcher spy since Moe Berg, has died at 84. A middling reserve catcher for 7 major league seasons with the New York Giants and St. Louis Cardinals, Yvars made an indelible mark on major league history by stealing opposing teams’ signs and communicating incoming pitches to batters at the Polo Grounds in the 1940s and 1950s. According to legend, Yvars let Bobby Thomson know what was coming, enabling him to hit the game-winning HR in the 1951 playoff against the Brooklyn Dodgers where the Giants won the pennant, the Giants won the pennant, the Giants won the pennant.