In mind’s fog, Willie Mays is always young, scampering to the farthest approaches of the Polo Grounds in search of the longest outing in sports history, before vanishing from perspective. He is now dead at 93 ( born on May 6, 1931 ), and it is undeniable that no one else played the game with the same enthusiasm and ferocity as the one they dubbed the” Say Hey Kid.”
Mays entered the majors as a scared rookie with the Giants in 1951, ending his career as the Mets ‘ center in his fourth World Series appearance with a career high of .302 with 660 homers ( fourth all time ) and 1, 903 RBIs. He was a legend in both New York and San Francisco and is regarded by many as the greatest all-around ballplayer there ever was. Along the way, he won two National League Most Valuable Player Awards, in 1954 and ‘ 65, the NL Rookie of the Year in’ 51, twelve Gold Gloves and appeared in 24 All- Star Games, setting Midsummer Classic information for most visits, runs, more basic hits, triples and stolen bases. His 1954 time, after he’d returned from two years in the Army, he won his sole batting title with a.345 average, along with 41 homers, 110 RBIs, 119 runs and a league- leading 13 triples, and galvanized the Giants, who won the National League pennant by five games over the Dodgers and finally swept the greatly favored 111- get Cleveland Indians in the World Series.
With the score tied 2- 2 and Indians runners at first and second on the field, Cleveland second baseman Vic Wertz, who had already tripled and singled half in the game, hit a towering picture to the Polo Grounds ‘ large center field, which was the longest in football, making what has long been regarded as ( though not by him ) the greatest catch in history. Mays threw his back to home plate and threw the ball about 440 feet away, scribbling it in his unmatched “basket catch” style, before turning and uncorking his throw and heading in one direction back to the infield in one move. The score remained tied until the Giants won it on a pinch-hit homer by Dusty Rhodes off Indians ace Bob Lemon in the 10th inning. Only one of the runners was able to advance on the play. Afterward, Mays told reporters nonchalantly:” I had it all the way. Never, ever, miss those who are “you should never miss.” He then added the play he made in the tenth inning, racing over the deep left to stop Wertz from hitting another line drive, and holding it to a double, was even better.
When asked about” The Catch,” Mays later said it was n’t nearly as good as he had ever made it. Another catch he made off the Dodgers ‘ Carl Furillo on August 15, 1951, while the Giants were on a 16-game winning streak, was the play that established him as the first top defensive center fielder in baseball. With one out in the eighth inning of a one-game series and the Dodgers at first and third, Furillo hit a sinking fly ball to right-center that, if caught, looked close enough to score Bobby Cox from third. But Mays, rushing toward the foul line, caught the ball and, without breaking stride, turned and threw the tagging Cox out at the plate. In the end, Dodger manager Charlie Dressen blatantly said,” He’ll have to do it again for me to believe it,” in the clubhouse.
Mays himself claimed that his best catch was the one he made off the Dodgers ‘ Bobby Morgan on the team’s opening day at Ebbets Field in 1952. In the seventh inning, Mays had to race to the deep left-center in search of pinch hitter Morgan’s two-out drive and somehow managed to find it as he fell face-first on the warning track. When Mays re-told it, he was momentarily unconscious, and Jackie Robinson, the Dodgers ‘ Jackie Robinson, and Giants manager, were standing over him. ” I’m the air, like parallel, I catch the ball and hit the fence and knock myself out. When I woke up, I see all these people standing around me, including Jackie, and I’m wondering,’ what the hell is he doing here?’ Damn, if he just wanted to make sure I still had the ball”!
After honing his skills in the Negro Leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons, Mays, a native of Alabama, was acquired by the Giants at the age of 17 for a$ 4, 000 bonus in 1950. It was Barons manager, Piper Davis, who Mays especially credited with helping him learn the fundamentals of baseball and, in particular, how to hit the curve ball. When he was called to the big leagues, Mays was hitting .477 for the Giants ‘ Triple-A minor league team in Minneapolis during his second season of organized ball. Horace Stoneham, the owner of the Giants, felt compelled to run full-page ads in the Twin Cities newspapers before doing so, explaining why the electrifying youngster was more needed in New York.
But Mays was not an instant success. He started the majors with a 1 for 26 start, with the exception of Warren Spahn of the Braves ‘ home run, who would go on to score in the postseason. Durocher then ran into him in the clubhouse, where he was crying.
” What’s the matter, Willie, why are you crying”? the manager demanded. ” Mr. Leo, I just ca n’t help you”, Mays replied. ” I ca n’t even get a hit. You’re going to have to send me back to Minneapolis. I do n’t belong up here”.
” What do you mean you ca n’t hit”? Durocher said incredulously. ” You’re going to be a great ballplayer. Look, Willie, I brought you here to do one thing — play center field. You’re the greatest center fielder I’ve ever seen. As long as I’m the manager of the Giants, you’re my center fielder”.
Mays spent a lot more time as the Giants ‘ center fielder than that. In 121 games as the National League Rookie of the Year in 1951, he followed that record with a.274 hit and 68 RBIs while leading the Giants ‘ miraculous comeback from 13 games behind on August 12 to win the pennant. He was then called into the service 34 games into the ‘ 52 season and did not return to the Giants until’ 54, whereupon he embarked on a career in which he won four home run titles, with 51 in 1955, 49 in’ 62, 47 in’ 64 and 52 in his ‘ 65 MVP year. He also led the league in hits once, stolen bases four times, triples three times, runs, and on-base percentage twice, and also slugged five times. In 1979, he was chosen to the Hall of Fame.
Mays was the quintessential New Yorker when the Giants were in New York. He frequently could be found playing stick ball with the kids in Harlem after the Giants games, and they gave him a room at St. Nicholas and 155th street, just a short walk from the Polo Grounds. It was at those games, he would happily greet the kids with” Say Hey” which became his enduring nickname. His 54-game season, which saw him lead the Giants to the pennant by five games over the Dodgers, win the batting title ( .345 ), the MVP award, and hit six homers in the process, established him as a genuine superstar and the toast of New York. And as his popularity soared that’ 54 season there were no less than three songs,” Amazing Mr. Mays” by the King Odom Quartet,” Say Hey Willie Mays” by the Wanderers, and” Say Hey” by the Treniers, recorded about him.
When the Giants relocated to San Francisco in 1958, Mays did n’t receive the same respect until after his playing days when Bay Area residents realized he was the best Giant of all time.
Mays had the best day of his career on April 30, 1961, when he borrowed a lighter bat from teammate Joey Amalfitano and hit four home runs with eight RBIs against the Braves. After leading the Giants to the 1962 pennant, hitting .304 with 49 homers and 141 RBIs, Mays ‘ double with two outs in the bottom of the ninth of the dramatic World Series Game 7 against the Yankees nearly tied the score. However, Matty Alou was held to third by a brave throw by Roger Maris, who then won the game, 1 to 0, and the Series. The greatest pitching duo in history, between the Braves ‘ ace and the Giants ‘ Juan Marichal, took place on July 2, 1963, when it was Mays ‘ home run in the bottom of the 16th inning off Spahn. Right before he went to bat in the 16th, Mays promised the exhausted Marichal, who had thrown 227 pitches, he would end the game.
In his 1965 MVP season, Mays hit.317 with 52 homers, 112 RBIs, 118 runs and also led the league in on- base ( .398 ) and slugging ( .645 ) percentage, but the Giants finished second by two games to the Dodgers. He went to the postseason with the Giants one more time, in 1971, when, at age 40, he led the NL in walks with 112 and on- base percentage. By then, however, it was evident he was finally slowing down, and in May the following year, Mets owner Joan Payson, who’d been a lifelong Giants fan growing up in New York and a particular devotee of Mays, decided it was time to bring Willie home. On May 11, the Giants traded Mays, hitting just.184 at the time, to the Mets for a second- line pitcher, Charlie Williams, only to be immediately embarrassed when, in his first game for the Mets, Mother’s Day, Willie homered to give his new team a 5- 4 win over San Francisco at Shea Stadium.
In his next game, Mays tripled and walked and tripled before two days later hitting a two-run homer to add one more Mets run. He reached base his first 20 games as a Met, but, alternating from center field to first base, played in only 88 games and hit a career- low.250. He announced his retirement at the end of the season in 1973 but did not receive his average of over.200 until July. On a night in his honor, September 25, Mays told the Shea Stadium crowd:” I hope that with my farewell tonight, you’ll understand what I’m going through now. I look at these kids in the dugout over there, the way they are playing and the way they are fighting for themselves, and it tells me: ‘ Willie, say goodbye to America.'”
However, the Mets surprised when they won the National League pennant and advanced to the World Series against the Oakland A’s, who are currently defending champions. Unfortunately, the depressing image of Mays putting two balls in center field in Game 2 of that series became a painful reminder of what happens when great players spend too much time on stage. Mays acknowledged this in his 1979 Hall of Fame speech when he said,” I could n’t play those last two years — they were a gift. Almost as if Mrs. Payson was saying: ‘ You gave us 18 years, we’re gonna give you two.'”
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