THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME?
A very fond farewell and tribute to Willie Mays.
Bill Walton, Jerry West, icons leaving us seemingly daily. Regretfully, just part of the cycle. No one can outrun Father Time, not even speedy, spectacular Willie Mays.
What else can be written about Mays’ career? With a sports writing dad, I grew up watching the AP machines at the Savannah newspaper sports department spitting out news that I would deliver to writers huddled at their desks. By age 8, I would race outside to grab the newspaper and quickly review box scores and anything Mays. I kept a notebook with his daily at-bats and home runs. His style, hat flying off and basket catches when I was lucky enough to see a game on our black-and-white TV, was electrifying!
I soon became an avid baseball card collector, always with an eye on Mays. Yogi was No. 2. I also thought I would easily become a major leaguer. Mays’ inspiration took me through high school and even playing in college before reality finally hit.
In the early 1980s, I found in a tiny, musty, baseball card shop a 1955 Bowman Mays I had never seen. After three trips and a lot of haggling, the card was mine.
Was Mays the greatest baseball player? While Ted Williams, Babe Ruth, Hank Aaron, Mickey Mantle quickly come to mind, it must be noted early players played in a segregated environment. Nobody could be at a “superstar level” for all five tools—hit, hit with power, run, catch, and throw. Nobody except Mays. Williams was a great hitter but Babe was no Rickey Henderson or Lou Brock on the basepaths.
Mays had 338 stolen bases, leading the league four times, had almost 3,300 hits, seventh all time, and 660 home runs in spite of large, cold, windy Candlestick Park and spending two years in the military. “The Catch” in the Polo Grounds in the 1954 World Series is considered the greatest catch of all time. He also earned 12 Gold Gloves, and the award didn’t even exist until his sixth year. His arm rivaled Roberto Clemente and his nearly 200 outfield assists is still a record for center fielders.
Mays should have had eight-plus MVPs but writers in his day, unlike statistical analysts now, normally awarded the MVP to a team leader on a pennant winner or a pitcher— Don Newcombe ’56, Dick Groat ’60, Maury Wills ’62, Sandy Koufax ’63, Ken Boyer ’64, Bob Gibson ’68.
Mays, a true unicorn since age 16, was always available and when I was lucky enough to finally meet him at a card show, he was gracious, friendly and always smiling.
Willie Mays was the greatest ballplayer of all time! RIP, Mr. Mays.