Today in History: September 29, Willie Mays makes “The Catch”

Today is Tuesday, Sept. 29, the 272nd day of 2026. There are 93 days left in the year.

Today in history:

On Sept. 29, 1954, Willie Mays of the New York Giants made a running, over-the-shoulder catch of a ball hit by Vic Wirtz of the Cleveland Indians in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series; “The Catch” would become one of the most famous plays in baseball history.

Also on this date:

In 1789, Congress officially established a regular army under the U.S. Constitution.

In 1938, British, French, German and Italian leaders concluded the Munich Agreement, which was aimed at appeasing Adolf Hitler by allowing Nazi annexation of Czechoslovakia’s Sudetenland.

In 1965, President Lyndon Johnson signed an act creating the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts.

In 1982, Extra-Strength Tylenol capsules laced with deadly cyanide claimed the first of seven victims in the Chicago area; the case, which led to legislation and packaging improvements to deter product tampering, remains unsolved.

In 1988, the U.S. space shuttle program resumed after a 32-month suspension following the 1986 Challenger disaster with the launch of Discovery, carrying a crew of five astronauts, from the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Discovery's crew deployed a satellite and conducted science experiments before returning to Earth, landing on Oct. 3 at Edwards Air Force Base in California.

In 1990, the construction of Washington National Cathedral concluded, 83 years to the day after its foundation stone was laid in a ceremony attended by President Theodore Roosevelt.

In 2005, John G. Roberts Jr. was sworn in as the nation’s 17th chief justice after winning Senate confirmation.

In 2017, Tom Price resigned as President Donald Trump’s secretary of Health and Human Services amid investigations into his use of costly charter flights for official travel at taxpayer expense.

In 2018, Tesla and its CEO, Elon Musk, agreed to pay a total of $40 million to settle a government lawsuit alleging that Musk had duped investors with misleading statements about a proposed buyout of the company.

In 2021, a judge in Los Angeles suspended Britney Spears’ father from the conservatorship that had controlled her life and money for 13 years, saying the arrangement reflected a “toxic environment.”

In 2022, rescue crews piloted boats and waded through flooded streets to save thousands of Floridians trapped after Hurricane Ian destroyed homes and businesses and left millions in the dark.

Today’s Birthdays: Former NASA administrator and ex-Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., is 84. Actor Ian McShane is 84. Jazz musician Jean-Luc Ponty is 84. Nobel Peace Prize laureate Lech Walesa, former president of Poland, is 83. Olympic gold medal runner Sebastian Coe is 70. Rock musician Les Claypool is 63. Actor Zachary Levi is 46. Actor Chrissy Metz (TV: “This Is Us”) is 46. Actor Kelly McCreary (TV: “Grey’s Anatomy”) is 45. Football Hall of Famer Calvin Johnson is 41. NBA All-Star Kevin Durant is 38. Pop singer Halsey is 32. Actor Lilah Pate is 23.