Today is a day we all knew was coming though none of us wanted to see it. Maybe the name Babe Ruth is the most iconic baseball name in history, but Willie Mays was the most magical baseball name of my lifetime. Willie Mays played for the San Francisco Giants and San Francisco was the closest large city to where I grew up. I started listening to games on the radio called by Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons and Bill Thompson in 1966 the summer I turned 10 years old. The names were magical: Jim Davenport, Jesus Alou, Juan Marichal, Gaylord Perry, Jim Ray Hart, Willie McCovey. But the most magical of all was Willie Mays. It sounded like one word, WillieMays.
I didn't realize it then but Willie was heading toward the end of his career and the milestone home run countdown was underway: 500, Passing Mell Ott at 511, Passing Ted Williams at 521, passing Jimmy Fox at 534. At that point the only player with more in his career was the one and only Babe Ruth at a seemingly insurmountable 714. There was another active player, someone named Hank Aaron, but he hadn't started the milestone march just yet. It was Willie chasing The Babe. Alas, he would end up falling short with an amazing 660. Of course, Hank Aaron kept hitting 40 HR's per season later into his career and eventually passed The Babe with plenty of room to spare. I didn't think it was fair that Willie Mays had to sit out almost 2 full seasons in which he would almost certainly have hit at least 70 more home runs to serve in the army which Hank Aaron did not have to for some reason. I also didn't think it was fair that Aaron got to finish his career in one of the easiest ballparks to hit a home run in while Willie had to fight gale force winds blowing to his opposite field in Candlestick Park. But as the movie said, "There's no crying in baseball." Records are records regardless of what stadium or what era they were set in.
We lived up in the mountains on the east side of the Napa Valley and didn't get down to San Francisco often. My parents had no interest in attending ballgames for entertainment so I had to content myself with listening to the games on radio. It was not until 1971, the year Willie turned 40 years old, that I finally got to see him play in person. It was about 10 days after his birthday on a Sunday against the Dodgers. The Giants had good team that year and were leading the newly formed NL West and the game was a sellout. My buddy had mail-ordered tickets for a group of us to go to the game. We sat way up in the nosebleed seats down the right-field line. It turned out to be a sloppily played game and the Giants lost 9-6, but Willie Mays hit a double and stole two bases. I didn't realize how remarkable that was at the time but how many 40 year old players steal a base in a MLB game, let alone two?
The Giants won the NL West that year, barely, over the Dodgers but lost to Roberto Clemente and the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL championship series. It would be Willie's last productive season in his career. He was obviously struggling at the beginning of the 1972 season and the Giants traded him to the Mets so he could finish his career in the city where it started, New York. That explanation always seemed more than a little disingenuous to me. I still look at that trade as one of the great injustices of my life. Hearing, seeing and reading about Willie playing for another team never set well and I hated the idea.
Willie and the Giants organization kept their distance from each other for many years after he retired until Peter Magowan and Larry Baer bought the team and reached out to bring Willie back into the Giants family. From then on, Willie was a fixture at spring training and in the Giants clubhouse, an integral part of the organization and city of San Francisco where he lived until he died. I always thought that put the lie to the idea that Willie preferred New York and was happy to leave San Francisco for the Mets.
So, RIP Willie Mays. I am not sure how you define the greatest player of all time, but Willie Mays was certainly one of the greatest.
Great post Doc. I grew up listening to Russ Hodges, Lon Simmons and Bill Thompson broadcasting Giants games here in Hawaii during the late 60's early 70s and idolized Willie Mays, Willie McCovey.. The Giants came to Hawaii one spring to play an exhibition series against a Japanese team. My dad took me to watch the series and some players including Mays met with fans at a local car dealership. My dad took me to the dealership that night where i still have the pictures I took with Willie Mays, Bobby Bonds, and Juan Marichal, and an autograph baseball. I was on cloud 9 that night and a Giants fan for life. I'll never forget that night and consider Willie Mays the greatest player of all time. RIP Willie Mays..
ReplyDeleteWhere did you grow up, if you don't mind me asking?
ReplyDeleteA little community called Angwin, CA.
DeleteThanks for those memories Doc. I began following Willie Mays and the Giants in the mid 60’s: those great teams with all the future Hall of Famers, who could not quite get past the Cardinals or the Dodgers, finishing second each year from 1965 through 1969. I fell in love with baseball and the Giants because of Willie Mays – listening to the games on a small transistor radio in the back yard. I, also, was devastated when he was traded to the Mets for relief pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000. Charlie Williams actually had an okay career with the Giants, pitching for seven seasons, compiling an 18 – 16 record in 237 games with San Francisco; but, he will always be the guy the Giants got when they traded away Willie Mays. I understand that it was a cost-saving move for the Giants and that when Willie arrived back in New York, the owner of the Mets told Willie that she would take care of him financially. It was still very difficult to see Willie in another uniform and equally difficult to see the level of his performance deteriorate. It was also hard to see him banned from baseball for several years due to his affiliation with an Atlantic City casino.
ReplyDeleteIt was a banner day when he was brought back to the San Francisco Giants’ family. It was fabulous to see him on the field during various ceremonies. It was awesome to hear that he would meet with the newly drafted Giants players and tell them stories. What a thrill it must have been to meet a living legend. It was frustrating to hear him advocate for his godson to be elected to the Hall of Fame, knowing that the baseball writers would ignore his request. Up until today he was certainly the greatest living baseball player. Many refer to him as the greatest baseball player they ever saw – that is certainly true for me. Many also refer to him as the greatest baseball player ever. He will always be number one in my heart. R.I.P to the Say Hey Kid. APGiantsfan
I lived in Vallejo, I was 13 and the year was '58, great remarks, I could not have said it better RIP Willie Mays, RIP.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in a small town in Southern Illinois where I still live. My dad wasn't a really a baseball fan but one day a neighborhood dad was pitching to some neighborhood kids. They all wanted to be Mantle, Musial, etc. I asked him who else was good and he said Willie Mays. I've been a Giants fan ever since and I thank my lucky stars he didn't say Ernie Banks.
ReplyDeleteAnyway I found your blog several years ago when I was searching for Jim Ray Hart and have followed it since then. Thanks for all the effort you've put in all these years.
I grew up in a little town near Turlock and listened to the Giants broadcast everyday. My brother,for some reason, was a dodgers fan and we had some great arguments in the 60s. Baseball was so different then. Willy was of course my favorite player and our little league team would make a trip to Candlestick once each summer to watch a game in that miserable stadium- we all loved it. Willy was the favorite of almost everyone - a few preferred the other Willy. I was at the ballpark the day before the Juan Marichal/John Roseboro incident and i remember how Willy pulled players away from the fight and kept it from escalating out of control. I wish more baseball commentators would remember Willy’s Army service and the difficulty of playing in Candlestick park when talking about the home run record. I will never forget how Willy played the game - he was the Greatest of all time.
ReplyDeleteLate in the '63 season my father picked me up from school to take me to a day game at Candlestick. We sat in the centerfield bleachers (not a comfortable place). Dad told me to really watch the guy playing centerfield, saying "he may be the best baseball player you'll ever see". This began my lifelong love of the game, and of the great Willie Mays.
ReplyDeleteAnd now almost 61 years later, Dad still was right.
Great stuff Doc...Such a sad day...One of my big four as I grew up in the 60's, Jim Brown, Jerry West, Rod Gilbert and, the greatest all around baseball player of all time and my true childhood hero, Willie Mays. All now gone.
ReplyDeleteGrowing up in Queens, 5 years old in 1964, baseball was King...and everybody else had the Yankees, the Mick, Whitey, Maris, Joe Pep, Bobby Richardson and some fools had the fledgling Mets and Bud Harrelson, Ed Cesspool, Cleon Jones, Ron Swoboda……But, no, not me…for some reason it was always all Willie Mays and the Giants (and Marichal, McCovey, Jim Ray Hart too!)…The only SF Giants fan in Richmond Hill, Queens!...Maybe it was the catch..or a baseball card I had..or just the way he played the game unlike anybody ever before..or just to be a pain to everybody else! I don’t know..Just happened…Glad it did…Wrote to him in 1966 ..got a signed formula autograph….Briefly met him in 1968 at Shea Stadium, and got a real autograph! still have them and so many great memories…... Thinking of the Mays/Bonds collision catch right now!
SteveVA