RIP Willie Mays.
They're having a big centerfielder reunion in heaven tonight, including Willie Mays, Mickey Mantle, and Richie Ashburn.
Posted on 06/18/2024 6:14:23 PM PDT by mkmensinger
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JKTQ4a3BR5c
Willie Mays’ glove ... is where triples go ... to die.
People can do more than one thing at a time. This is an American icon.
“He could do it all.”
And never got credit for the things he did because people were so tuned in to hit it catch it.
When the Giants moved to San Francisco in the late 50’s, I was in little league in central California and he came in large. I like every other kid, never really understood the things he did unil I grew up and learned the game.
Sure, he hit 600 homers and won two batting titles, but the little things were what nobody saw. He never missed a cut off man, and never threw to the wrong base. I watched him hit balls into the gaps and stay at first base so they would pitch to Willie McCovey rather than pitch around him with first base open. Interesting point is that Mays would work walks with two on and McCovey still owns the lifetime record for grand slams in the national league. Mays was one of the smartest players I ever saw.
When Juan Marichal hit John Roseboro with a bat, and while the rest of the players were fighting, Mays pulled Roseboro away and was attending to him helping to get the docs to him. He played in almost 3000 games and was never ejected. And you know they knocked him down but he retaliated with the bat, glove and his speed.
I can remember being at Candlestick on a night game and the wind was blowing out toward right. The Giants needed a run late so Mays stepped in, closed his stance, and hit a ball out in right field.
He was never the top in almost all stats. But he did all stats almost as well as the top person did and would be mentioned in the same sentence with all of them. Best all around player I ever saw and a great ambassador for the game. And one way to tell just how good he was is it is mentioned every year, it seems, that some team has found the next Willie Mays. And they never do.
wy69
We’re talkin’ baseball!
Kluszewski, Campanella.
Talkin’ baseball!
The Man and Bobby Feller.
The Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc,
They knew ‘em all from Boston to Dubuque.
Especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
Talkin’ Baseball by Terry Cashman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fWKA9Zi5-_Y
“You may run like Hayes, but you hit like s___!”
“Mays never spoke about politics that I know of, and his talent and work ethic have inspired many. He is an American hero.”
Don’t waste your time arguing with the DU troll.
My dad was his teammate during his time in the service. In 1967 we moved to Vallejo, California. My dad took us to several Giants games and we got to meet Willie. We had so much swag after those games. Baseball bats, cards, and baseballs from Willie, Juan Marichal, and McCovey.
If course being dumb kids we used it all in our local pick up games.
And tomorrow For will have a game from Rockwood, where Willie played before becoming famous...
He certainly kept a low profile these later years. I never knew he was still alive.
Another childhood hero passes to the great beyond!
Thanks for the memories, Mr. Mays!
My favorite growing up
You know that Willie Mays and Ernie Banks had to have experienced racism coming into the game just as the Negro Leagues were winding down. You never hear either complain about it, though.
Both had a trademark of being even tempered and great ambassadors for the game. I would also give them points for being peacemakers like the Roseboro incident that you pointed out.
“...Willie Mays and Ernie Banks had to have experienced racism...
It was kept as quiet as possible but when Mays tried to buy a house in San Francisco:
KPIX Eyewitness News report from November 14th 1957 featuring an interview by reporter Fort Pearson with New York Giants baseball star Willie Mays, who is relocating with the team to San Francisco next year. Mays had recently put in an offer to buy a home at 175 Miraloma Drive in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood of San Francisco, which the owner (Walter A. Gnesdiloff) initially accepted. Neighbors complained that if an African American family moved into the area, house prices would fall, so Gnesdiloff refused to proceed. However, in the face of adverse publicity over his decision, Gnesdiloff agreed to sell at the original price of $37,500. Mays explains to Pearson that: “It was a disappointment to me because I didn’t figure I would have this much trouble trying to buy a place. That’s why when I go looking for a house, I don’t worry about who living besides me.”
As for the game itself, Willie Mays, thought by many baseball writers to be the greatest player who ever wore spikes, was passed up by three major league clubs due to outright racial prejudice or to quota systems that limited them to just one Negro star. Perhaps there is no better example anywhere of how affirmative action paid off for the New York Giants, the club that grabbed Mays, because manager Leo Durocher cared only about getting the best talent, irrespective of skin color. By contrast, Tom Yawkey, the owner of the Boston Red Sox, passed on Mays because he would not hire a Negro, period. And the Boston Braves and Pittsburgh Pirates passed on Mays because of their racial quota systems. (Imagine: the Braves might have an outfield with Henry Aaron and Willie Mays playing side by side for two decades! Imagine: the Pirates might have had an outfield starring Roberto Clemente and Mays!) Mays was batting a sensational .477 playing for the Triple-A minor league franchise Minneapolis Millers in 1951 when Durocher phoned him and said he wanted him immediately.
https://www.laprogressive.com/racism/willie-mays-giants
wy69
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