Never happened before (not from Wiki):

It was June 13, 1969 and the Cubs were facing the Reds in Cincinnati at Crosley Field. He doubled in the tenth inning and attempted to score on a single by Paul Popovich. Pat Corrales, the catcher for the Reds, blocked the plate as the throw sailed to the third base side of the plate and up the line. Corrales moved up the line to catch the ball. Qualls, running full speed, jumped as Corrales bent down to grab the throw. The ball and Qualls arrived at the same time. Qualls, having nowhere to go but up, attempted to leap over Corrales, but his leg hit Corrales’ shoulder as Corrales rose with the ball and Qualls was sent hurdling into the air about ten feet before home plate. Qualls soared over the plate, his feet skyward and his hand reaching downward in an effort to touch the plate. His momentum carried him over the plate and his outstretched hand never came within a foot of the plate as he crashed to the ground and rolled about twenty feet past home plate. Corrales held up the ball and looked at the umpire who stood stone-faced making no signal at all. Qualls, knowing he missed home plate, got up and raced for home. Corrales, still down the third base line, did the same. Qualls and Corrales both dived for the plate with Qualls hand sliding under the tag before the collision. The ump signaled Qualls safe, an argument ensued, and the Cubs had won the game.

Now that sounds like an awesome play at the plate Hack. I wish there was footage of that, it must have been something to see.

As for this play, I can't decide whether I enjoy watching it live or in slow motion better.

I dunno Hack, sounds like there was quite the injury risk in sending Qualls home.

That was some seriously amazing body control by the kid.

Wasn't there a college game last season where the same thing happened?

Qualls was sent hurdling into the air about ten feet before home plate. Qualls soared over the plate, his feet skyward and his hand reaching downward in an effort to touch the plate. His momentum carried him over the plate and his outstretched hand never came within a foot of the plate as he crashed to the ground and rolled about twenty feet past home plate.

He jumped more than ten feet, while jumping high enough to go over another player, and then rolled another 15+? Was he shot out of a cannon?

Wasn't there a college game last season where the same thing happened?

Yes.

Here

Edit: For some reason the hyperlink doesn't work right out of there. You can copy and paste the link below:

http://deadspin.com/#!5521182/kid-leaps-over-catcher-compels-you-to-watch-a-college-baseball-highlight-just-this-once

The footage of the college play is included in the original article.

The college play is also in TFA towards the bottom. I'm inclined to think the new play is better since the kid had to pop out of his slide and leap over the catcher and did it all so smoothly. Which isn't to take anything away from the college player at all, because what he did is also pretty incredible.

Coke to RP.

Odd that Qualls was mentioned in a story here just a few days ago:

Tuesday, April 19, 2011: Jimmy Qualls, who got the last of his 31 big-league hits in 1972, at last will be rewarded with health care and a pension for the brief time he played for the Chicago Cubs, Chicago White Sox and Montreal Expos. The guy who broke up Tom Seaver’s perfect game against the Cubs in 1969.

I dunno Hack, sounds like there was quite the injury risk in sending Qualls home.

Eh, the 3rd base coach knew Qualls didn't have a chance at the MVP so the risk was worth it.

Wasn't there a college game last season where the same thing happened?

The college "slide" would have been illegal in HS, with the runner out. What's more interesting about this play is that he managed to make a legal "jump slide". You can only leap a prone player in HS, and can't do it head first, and you have to avoid malicious contact with the defensive player. Since sliding provides a presumption of innocence, everyone slides just like this guy did in the beginning of the play.

Man when I played little league, everything was game. Lead-offs, steals, slides, head-first dives, the works. Good times.

Edit: By the way...is everything game in softball leagues? I remember a long time ago, my girlfriend once playing catcher and waiting to tag an oncoming guy, and he just laid her out Pete Rose style.

The footage of the college play is included in the original article.

There's also this one from 2007. And I saw Jason Kendall do it once while he was with the Pirates, though the clip appears to have been taken down from YouTube.

I remember a long time ago, my girlfriend once playing catcher and waiting to tag an oncoming guy, and he just laid her out Pete Rose style.

Wasn't there a big debate about this incident in a thread a few years back about gender and baseball?

The footage of the college play is included in the original article.

The college play looks more impressive to me, but this one was pretty cool too. I love how nonchalant the college guy and his teammates were after the play.

For those unaware, Tupelo, MS was the birthplace of Elvis. The original house is still there and there's a little museum next door.

By the way...is everything game in softball leagues? I remember a long time ago, my girlfriend once playing catcher and waiting to tag an oncoming guy, and he just laid her out Pete Rose style.

Definitely not, in the leagues I play in.
The worst isn't at home, but at second, where players come toddling in standing up and don't get out of the way... but umps won't call interference unless you actually plunk the runner with the throw.

@ #12, Dale was your girlfriend playing rec league slowpitch softball? That is the only game I can imagine where a guy would be playing against a girl.

20-25 years ago I played and umpired a lot of slowpitch. There was nothing in our rules in those days to stop collisions between fielders and runners. If a runner was obviously trying to hit a fielder with the intent to hurt him/her or trying to do something brutal (like a punch to the face) to break up the tag, then the runner would be out and ejected. But contact like Roses' slide would be a brutal (but allowed) part of the game.

I also played slowpitch at each of the colleges I attended during those years. Since they were much more worried about the liabilty, none of them allowed players to slide into any base or have ANY contact with a fielder. In fact, if you slid or bumped a fielder in trying to get to a base, then you were automatically out no matter how safe you should have been (if you were coming home and you beat the throw by a wide margin, but slid or bumped the catcher, you were out).

I took softball games WAY too seriously, but I never hurt a girl in a corec game. The closest I ever came was when I hit a screaming liner that barely missed a girl's head at second base.

Blowing up the catcher in slowpitch softball is particularly bad because that's where teams stash the tiny girls who can't field or throw.