OT: Willie Mays has passed away
- Thread starter Knight Shift
- Start date
My favorite all time player! A few quick Willie Mays stories:
- My Dad was a NY Giants fan… he would take the train from Jersey City to the Polo grounds as a kid so when they left for San Francisco he remained a fan. Whenever the Giants played at Shea Pops would take us to a game. One night there were two hour long rain delays and we eventually moved from our Bob Uecker seats to right behind the giants dugout after Dad greased the usher a few bucks. By the 8th inning there were only a few thousand fans left. Willie would come to the far end of the dugout after the 3rd Mets out each inning, so I was right on the rail yelling his name and asking for an autograph. He entered the dugout and put his glove down then came back up the steps and signed an autograph for me DURING A LIVE GAME. It was a thrill for a young kid and something I’ll never forget. Imagine that happening today!
- Willie drove a Pink Cadillac, you couldn’t miss it. My Dad was buying advance tickets at the Shea box office and Willie drove by (this was his Mets year 1973). He pulled over and got out and signed autographs for everyone in line. He was the best.
- My dad brought home two puppies someone left in a box outside of his job. We named them Say and Hey.
Willie could do it all and for me he is in the discussion as the greatest all around player of all time. RIP Willie.
- My Dad was a NY Giants fan… he would take the train from Jersey City to the Polo grounds as a kid so when they left for San Francisco he remained a fan. Whenever the Giants played at Shea Pops would take us to a game. One night there were two hour long rain delays and we eventually moved from our Bob Uecker seats to right behind the giants dugout after Dad greased the usher a few bucks. By the 8th inning there were only a few thousand fans left. Willie would come to the far end of the dugout after the 3rd Mets out each inning, so I was right on the rail yelling his name and asking for an autograph. He entered the dugout and put his glove down then came back up the steps and signed an autograph for me DURING A LIVE GAME. It was a thrill for a young kid and something I’ll never forget. Imagine that happening today!
- Willie drove a Pink Cadillac, you couldn’t miss it. My Dad was buying advance tickets at the Shea box office and Willie drove by (this was his Mets year 1973). He pulled over and got out and signed autographs for everyone in line. He was the best.
- My dad brought home two puppies someone left in a box outside of his job. We named them Say and Hey.
Willie could do it all and for me he is in the discussion as the greatest all around player of all time. RIP Willie.
Great stories, thanks for sharing.
Willie's passing leaves journeyman first baseman,Jim Marshall,as the oldest living Met,19 days younger than was Willie.
He was not the oldest living Giant,that distinction goes to reliever Al Worthington at 95.
Regarding my wish that his number be retired,Willie was the first Black athlete to be admired by the majority population
Jackie was respected.The adulation for Joe Louis was due to the anti-Nazi fervor.
He was not the oldest living Giant,that distinction goes to reliever Al Worthington at 95.
Regarding my wish that his number be retired,Willie was the first Black athlete to be admired by the majority population
Jackie was respected.The adulation for Joe Louis was due to the anti-Nazi fervor.
None of the clips show the throw back to the infield. That throw was as important as the catch. The game (the first in the 1954 World Series) was scoreless in the 8th inning and the Indians had runners on first and second with no outs. Center field in the Polo Grounds was so deep that it was possible for a runner at second to tag and score after a catch. But Mays' throw was so good that the runner on second couldn't even try to score. That kept the game scoreless and the Giants won in extra innings. Mays said afterwards that as he was running for the ball he realized that he would have to make a great throw back to the infield.
I always think of him when I hear this song, as he's mentioned with Mickey and Duke
My favorite baseball song of all time
RIP to the Say Hey Kid
My favorite baseball song of all time
RIP to the Say Hey Kid
Was 6 years old in 54, first year I followed baseball and was a Giants fan. Dad was a Dodger fan and older brother a Yankee fan. Went to a lot of games for all three NY teams.
why? Do all top 10 players get their numbers retired throughout the game?
RIP to a great player
that must have been awesome at that time. Imagine all 3 teams in NY, not too far away and the fans during baseball season. You are lucky to have experienced that
spot on, no one talks about it as it was good throw to 2nd for the double play from close to the wall where that field hit close to 480' I believe. Catch was awesome, but the throw was a killer!
Last edited:
Mays official stats say (Did not play Miltary service) for 1953
But he actually missed all of 1952 except for a couple weeks.
Really 2 full years missed in service to the country
But he actually missed all of 1952 except for a couple weeks.
Really 2 full years missed in service to the country
I hit like Mays and run like Hayes.
You may run like Hayes, but you hit like $hit
You may run like Hayes, but you hit like $hit
Thought of your post when reading his NY Times obit this morning, from the Times:
“His frame seemed ordinary at first glance — 5 feet 11 inches and 180 pounds or so — but he had unusually large hands and outstanding peripheral vision that complemented his speed in running down balls. And he was all steel, his back exceptionally muscular.”
Friend of mine shook hands with him once and said it felt like his hand was in a vice grip. Also, in I think the late '80's/early '90's I saw a car driving up Madison Ave in the city with the license plate "Say Hey". Can't remember what kind of car it was but I always figured it could have been him. RIP Willie.
RIP Willie. Willie, Mickey & the Duke. Was a teenager growing up in Brooklyn & got to see each of them play.
As a diehard Dodger fan was partial to Duke. As I got older & after having played baseball for years I began to believe that Willie was the best of the 3 great center fielders. Snider, however may have had the edge as a fielder. He was fast, very graceful & could really climb the wall.
As a diehard Dodger fan was partial to Duke. As I got older & after having played baseball for years I began to believe that Willie was the best of the 3 great center fielders. Snider, however may have had the edge as a fielder. He was fast, very graceful & could really climb the wall.
I’m sure I’m not the only one but I read this part like you were still a little kid telling your friends.
lots of players did things like this back in the day. the game and the players are just different now unfortunately. He did lots of things for kids and families that people don't even know about unless you dig or look up. he was awesome
the world is better off with people like Mays, his is definitely a loss to humanity.
RIP Willie
I can't say anything more than just saying baseball fans everywhere just lost one of the greatest players of all time .
I can't say anything more than just saying baseball fans everywhere just lost one of the greatest players of all time .
Thanks for showing that video between Willie and Vince Scully. What I did not remember was that the bases were loaded and there were two outs. A very significant catch as well in that situation.
Yes, I remember one game when he was caught between 3rd and home, fell and got tagged out
Wonder what the stats for Mays, and even more so Ted Williams, would have been if their careers hadn't been interrupted by their service. 714 likely would have been surpassed before Aaron by Mays.
Yeah, I've always noticed that most videos and description this play leave out the throw, which was at least as amazing as the catch, especially given the situation...
One aspect of Mays great career that gets overlooked is that he was drafted during the Korean conflict and served in the military for most of 1952 and all of 1953. His offensive statistics would have been considerably higher if not for that, along with the difficult hitting conditions in Candlestick Park. Edit: sorry I did not see the post above before I added this.
It would also have helped Mays not to have to hit in Candlestick Park which (and I can tell you from experience) was a huge wind tunnel at night which the wind whipping off San Francisco Bay from center toward home plate. It was years before someone thought of enclosing the stadium. Horace Stoneham, the Giants' owner when Candlestick was built, said that no one had ever visited the site after 3:30 pm.
Last edited:
One of the many reasons that it is hard to compare Mays and Mantle is that Mantle was declared 4-F because of osteomyelitis (one of the many physical burdens he had) and so Mantle did not miss time for military service. In the 1950s, Mantle was regularly booed by some fans at Yankee Stadium as a 'draft-dodger." One sports writer once wondered in print why the boo-birds were in Yankee Stadium instead of themselves in the military.
BTW, it is also hard to compare Ted Williams with Stan Musial because Williams twice lost years in the military while Musial lost only a year.
Ty Cobb once said Willie Mays was the only player he would pay to watch play.
A generation later any football player (and anyone else for that matter) who had ACL surgery was 4F.
It is now thought that Mantle suffered a torn ACL his rookie year in the 1951 World Series -- and never recovered because today's surgery wasn't available then. It is incredible that he was able to do what he did with a torn ACL.
