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August 30, 2024           Article 4   Willie Mays

You know you are a Sports Addict when you know that the NBA franchise, Los Angeles Clippers used to be the San Diego Clippers and before that, the Buffalo Braves!

My boyhood Idol, Willie Mays Passes Away

A few weeks ago, my boyhood idol died! Willie Mays passed away in Palo Alto California on June 18, 2024. He didn’t get cheated – he lived to be 93 years of age! His nickname was the “Say Hey Kid,” and he was the best ball player I ever saw!

Willie was known as a five tool player, which means as a position player, he excelled at all the tools or basic skills of the great game of baseball, including: hitting for average, hitting for power, base-running and speed, throwing and fielding. Mays was the best or one of the best at all 5 tools.

Mays finished his career with a .302 batting average. He was top 10 all time in the following offensive categories:

·      runs scored – 2,062

·      games played – 2,992

·      home runs – 660

·      at bats – 10,881

·      runs batted in – 1,903

·      total bases – 6,066

·      extra base hits – 1,323

·      walks – 1,464

·      hits – 3,293

·      slugging percentage - .557

·      doubles – 523

·      triples – 140

Defensively, Mays won 12 Gold Gloves and his plays in center field are legendary. He led National League center fielders in double plays five times and assists three times.

Willie Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1979 and was named to the Major League Baseball All Century Team in 1999. And years after his playing days, in 2015, Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama!

It’s debatable, as just about everything in baseball is, but I am of the opinion that Willie Mays was the best to ever play the game!

Willie wasn’t just a highly skilled player – he was electric! He generated excitement in a relatively pedestrian game. Many think Willie’s flashy play stemmed partly from his days playing in the Negro Leagues. He wore his ball cap one size larger so that his cap would fly off when he ran in the outfield or was running the bases. His signature play was his “basket catch!” He would hold his glove down around his belt buckle with the glove turned up, enabling the ball to fall directly into his glove. To say the least, this catching technique was unique and flamboyant. But Willie pulled it off routinely.

 I was so impressed with Willie’s basket catch style in my youth, that I tried it successfully while playing a Little League game at Majestic Park in Gordon Head. Both my coach, Jack Shields in the dugout and my father in the stands, yelled at me to “Cut that out!” After the game, my coach told me that I was not Willie and to stop “show-boating!” My father told me to quit “Hot-dogging!” My mother told me that I was “ostentatious” (I didn’t know what that meant until 10 years later when I was a college student)!

As a kid in the early 60’s, growing up in Victoria, I owned a small transistor radio. On a good night, I could pick up KSFO 560 AM radio out of San Francisco. I would listen to the play by play of Ron Hodges and Lon Simmons broadcasting the Giants game from Candlestick Park. The Giants had some good players back then including Tom Haller, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Orlando Cepeda, Harvey Kuenn, Felipe Alou, Willie McCovey and my idol, Willie Mays.

 I envisioned Willie playing the game through Ron Hodges play by play call. Radio has always been an interesting medium for sports fans, as it restricts the listener to only hear what is going on and not see what is going on. Radio helps paint a mental picture. The listener is forced to envision what just happened. If radio increases the imaginative power of the brain, then Willie Mays challenged my imagination to its fullest. When Hodges called that Willie just stole second base, I had to imagine his lead off, his quick jump, accelerated speed on the base path, ball cap flying off his head, a feet- first slide into second base just beating the throw from the catcher, a quick tag onto Willie’s thigh by the second baseman, and the umpire signalling and calling “Safe!” I created an image, a picture of all of this action in my head. In doing so, Willie became larger than life!

  I saw Mays quite a few times on television playing on Saturdays on the NBC Game of the Week. I only saw Willie play live at a ballpark twice in my life – once at Candlestick Park in San Francisco and once at Jarry Park in Montreal. He had an aura about him! Everything changed when it was Willie’s turn to bat. When Willie walked to the batter’s box, all players in both dugouts would not be sitting, but standing on the stairs or up against the guard rail of the dug out. Pitchers in the bullpen would stop stretching and throwing to stand and watch. The ball park stands would fill up. No vendors would walk the aisles selling popcorn, peanuts or cold beer. No spectator would be walking the corridor of the stadium. The men’s room would be empty. No one went for a whiz during a Willie Mays at-bat! When Willie dug into the batter’s box, conversations in the stands amongst family members, friends or neighbours would be put on hold. There were no apparent distractions for fans. Women would stop chatting. Kids would stop giggling at the guy in the next row with the funny hat. Men would stop gawking through their sunglasses at the well endowed woman with the plunge neckline halter top, in the lower seating area. No one wants to miss a Willie Mays at-bat!

The ballpark broadcaster would announce the next hitter, “Now hitting for the Giants, number 24, Willie Mays, centerfield!’ The irony of the announcement was that the man being introduced was the one man in the stadium that everyone already knew. In front of 30,000 plus spectators, Willie Mays was the one man who needed no introduction. Not only did everyone in the park know who he was, but they all knew what he was capable of doing – and they didn’t want to miss it! No one wants to miss a Willie Mays at-bat!

 Mays played his last MLB game in the October 1973 World Series, as a member of the New York Mets. The National League Mets lost to the American League Oakland A’s in a seven game series, thus denying Willie his chance of a Championship ring - 19 years after he was a member of the 1954 World Series Champions, New York Giants!

Willie lived another 50 years, working at various capacities in the game of baseball. He died knowing that he outlived the life of the three home MLB ballparks that he played in. The Polo Grounds in the Bronx New York, Candlestick Park in San Francisco and Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows New York, are all gone!

Willie also died knowing that the Negro League statistics were integrated into MLB stats. On May 29, 2024, MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred announced, “We are proud that the official historical record now includes the players of the Negro Leagues!” This meant that the stats of Willie Mays short tenure with the   Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues in the late 1940’s, would be included in his personal career statistics.

Willie is now gone! But I still have many of the images of Willie that I created in my head from listening to Giants games on the radio in my youth. I hope to keep them until it is my time to go!

 

Favourite Sports Team Nicknames include – Chattanooga Choo Choos   (Negro Minor League Team in the Southern Negro League – Willie Mays first pro baseball club)