Why there’ll by no means be one other MLB participant like Willie Mays

One of many best gamers of all time, Frank Robinson, was requested as soon as if Willie Mays was one of the best participant he had ever seen. Robinson bought that aggravated look on his face and rolled his eyes, insulted that the query was even requested. After a pause, he answered: “In fact he’s. He is good as you need him to be. You may’t exaggerate how nice he was.”

Willie Mays is the best middle fielder ever, the best Big ever and nonetheless is, 73 years after his debut, the best mixture of energy, pace and protection within the historical past of baseball.

“When he got here to us in 1951,” former Giants supervisor Leo Durocher mentioned, “I would by no means seen anybody fairly like him.”

Main League Baseball had by no means seen anybody like him, and hasn’t since. Mays was Ken Griffey Jr., solely higher, and he preceded Griffey by 40 years. Mays received the Nationwide League Most Precious Participant in 1954 and 1965 and completed second two different occasions. He completed within the high six 12 occasions. He made the All-Star group 20 years in a row. He’s, by most measures, the second-best all-around participant in historical past behind the incomprehensibly nice Babe Ruth. To those that separate the sport by the breaking of the colour barrier in 1947, there has by no means been a greater participant than Mays.

“I used to be in awe of him,” Corridor of Fame catcher Johnny Bench mentioned. “The primary time I met him [at the 1968 All-Star Game], the day earlier than the sport, he whispered in my ear, ‘You need to be beginning the All-Star Sport.’ When he left, I could not even communicate for a short while. It was like, ‘Oh my God, Willie Mays simply talked to me.’ That is how nice Willie was.”

“With Willie, it was like Tiger Woods coming to your city, you simply all the time anticipated him to win,” Giants Corridor of Fame broadcaster Lon Simmons mentioned in 2008. “The followers anticipated a miracle from Willie daily. And he simply gave them a miracle each different day.”

“His athleticism set him aside,” Robinson mentioned. “The athleticism of the Black participant modified the sport of baseball after 1947. And there was no higher athlete than Willie Mays.”

Mays was born into that. His mom was a terrific athlete. His father was a terrific middle fielder, too. His son, Willie Howard Mays Jr., was so superior rising up in Westfield, Alabama, that he performed in opposition to 18-year-olds when he was 10. Mays performed for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues when he was 15. In 1950, at age 18, he signed with the New York Giants for $15,000 (he purchased a automotive however could not drive it, so it turned a automotive that his group drove). He spent two years within the minor leagues, then joined the Giants in Might 1951 simply after turning 20 years outdated. Durocher put him within the No. 3 spot within the order and, after a 1-for-25 begin, he went on to win the Rookie of the Yr Award and helped the Giants overcome a 13½-game deficit in opposition to the Dodgers to win the pennant. He was oblivious to the stress. He was as pure a expertise as anybody had ever seen.

“The sport all the time got here straightforward to me,” Mays mentioned.

It confirmed. Mays was as sleek a participant as there has ever been, an imposing mixture of pace and super power constructed right into a 5-foot-11, 185-pound package deal. He performed with a sure aptitude, a crowd-pleaser in each means. He was the “Say Hey Child.” There was nobody like him.

Mays hit 660 residence runs, fifth-most of all time; he led the league in residence runs 4 occasions, had six 40-homer seasons and led the league in slugging 5 occasions, all whereas enjoying portion of his profession in a pitchers’ ballpark and in a pitchers’ period.

“Hitting at Candlestick was like hitting in a vacuum: You hit the ball, and the ball was sucked again in,” Robinson mentioned. “If he’d simply performed in a good park for hitters, he’d have hit much more homers.”

Mays additionally might need hit much more residence runs if he had performed in at present’s period, with its decrease mound, its smaller ballparks, its smaller strike zone and virtually the whole lot designed to assist the hitter. In 1968, one NL hitter drove in 100 runs. In 2000, 21 NL hitters did it.

“Willie Mays,” Corridor of Famer Joe Morgan as soon as mentioned, “might need hit 80 in a season at present.”

However what separated Mays was his pace. He stole 338 bases; he led the league in stolen bases 4 seasons in a row whereas averaging 33 homers per season. When he stole 40 bases in 1956, it was probably the most by any NL participant since 1929.

“He might have stolen much more bases if he had needed,” Robinson mentioned. “However again then, you solely stole a base to assist your group win a recreation. He might have stolen 50 yearly if he’d needed to.”

“He was one of the best baserunner I’ve ever seen,” Simmons mentioned.

He was additionally a terrific defender — most likely the best defensive middle fielder of all time. He received 12 Gold Gloves, most of any middle fielder, and so they did not begin awarding Gold Gloves till 1957, his fifth full season. In 1968, he received a Gold Glove at age 37; on the time, he was the oldest to win one as a middle fielder. Within the 1954 World Sequence, Mays’ back-to-the-plate catch in deep middle in opposition to the Indians’ Vic Wertz is taken into account probably the most well-known defensive play of all time. Mays might throw in addition to any middle fielder; he would have had an help in any respect 4 bases in a single recreation, however Giants second baseman Tito Fuentes dropped the ball on a tag play. In 1965, Mays turned the primary participant to win a Gold Glove in a 50-homer season. His signature basket catch was a phenomenon that has by no means been duplicated. Nobody glided after a fly ball like Willie Mays.

He was probably the most full participant in baseball historical past, the primary actual five-tool participant. He did not simply hit for energy; he batted .302 in his profession, received a batting title and is considered one of 5 gamers with 3,000 hits and 500 residence runs. He and teammate Willie McCovey had been a damaging twosome for the Giants for many of the Sixties.

“My final two years with the Giants, I might hit a double, however I would cease at first in order that they’d need to pitch to McCovey,” Mays mentioned. “Pitchers would typically throw the ball to the backstop, however I might keep at first base to verify McCovey had an opportunity to hit. I needed to maneuver some issues for our lineup.”

Mays was so good, some maneuvering was achieved round him — and by him, even on the All-Star Sport.

“Once I was enjoying within the All-Star Sport, [Dodgers manager] Walter Alston would inform me, ‘OK, you understand all these guys higher than I do, you make out the lineup,”’ Mays mentioned. “So I did. I might hit leadoff to get one thing going. I would put [Roberto] Clemente second as a result of he might hit behind the runner, and I would be on third base. I might hit Hank [Aaron] third, he’d hit a fly ball, and earlier than you knew it, our group was forward.”

Mays’ Giants had been all the time forward in 1954, after they received the world championship in his first full season (he missed most of 1952 and all of 1953 due to army service). In 1962, Mays hit 49 homers, together with one within the eighth inning of the ultimate day of the season to beat the Astros 2-1 and pull the Giants right into a regular-season tie with the Dodgers. They performed a three-game playoff; the Giants beat Sandy Koufax within the first recreation 8-0 behind two homers by Mays. The Giants received two out of three to advance to the primary World Sequence in San Francisco, however they misplaced in seven video games to the Yankees. Mays’ hit within the ninth put two on with two out, however McCovey’s line out to Bobby Richardson ended the Sequence.

Willie Mays in his prime was merely breathtaking to observe. Sadly, some individuals will bear in mind him for falling down on the warning monitor as a 42-year-old within the 1973 World Sequence. However exchange that image with these photographs: The sport’s greatest athlete, streaking throughout the outfield, his cap flying off as he runs down a ball in right-center; that quick, robust physique uncoiling and hitting a ball to locations solely few can think about; these legs churning on a steal of second, ending with a traditional hook slide. Keep in mind him as one of many two greatest gamers of all time, a person who modified the sport, a person with expertise that’s unmatched the previous 75 years.