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OT: Willie Mays has passed away

RIP, greatest baseball player I ever saw. First game I went to as a kid was Mets vs Giants at Shea Stadium. Willie in centerfield for the Giants.
 
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RIP, greatest baseball player I ever saw. First game I went to as a kid was Mets vs Giants at Shea Stadium. Willie in centerfield for the Giants.
 
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The most amazing stat of his career is that he batted 71 times in 4 World Series spread over 22 years,yet never went yard.He dominated almost every All-Star Game in the 60's,beating with the AL with his bat,his glove,and his legs.
 
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Willie Mays retired after the 1973 season. Until then, there was never an All Star Game from my birth to my 20s that didn't have him named to it.
 
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Willie Mays retired after the 1973 season. Until then, there was never an All Star Game from my birth to my 20s that didn't have him named to it.
Aaron, Mays, Clemente, all star outfield.
 
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A baseball immortal. ⚾

R.I.P.

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Quick story about the autographed photo shown... when I was a sportswriter at The Daily Journal (Elizabeth, NJ) in 1991, I received a call from a public relations rep asking me to cover the grand opening of Mays' chicken eatery in the food court at Menlo Park Mall (Edison, NJ). He said I could interview him and bring an item to get signed. How could I pass up that opportunity! The PR rep said Mays would only sign promo cards (below) for the general public, but I could bring anything to get autographed because I was with the press.

I brought with me a copy of a 1979 Mets yearbook I had in my basement. The inside back cover had a nice photo of Mays, who just had been inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. The autographed photo has been a treasured item in my sports memorabilia collection ever since.

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Keith said it well…”He would do something. Sometimes all of them.”

And that song has been in my Spotify for a while now.
 
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I remember seeing Willie for the first time in the Mets clubhouse when he was in his underwear (I had been introduced to him when he was a Giant)
I was a freshman in high school and had never seen a body like that.
He had bulging strength veins running down his thighs and calves like he had in his arms.
That image has been etched in my mind for 55 years…
 
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Damn, that makes me feel sad. Of course I had no connection to the man, but for some reason he was my all-time fav. Maybe because I thought a lot about the different times he lived through.

RIP. Say, hey...
 
True that this was his most significant catch ever. However, this was not his best catch ever. The one catch he made was at Ebbets Field against the Dodgers was the most amazing one. A ball was hit into the left field gap; Willie caught up to it on a horizontal dive parallel to the turf; hit the wall 4 feet above the ground, fell to the ground motionless. Though briefly unconscious , still held onto the ball for an out. I saw that play on TV and never forgot how amazing it was!
 
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