MLB Hall of Fame legend Willie Mays passes away

It came to be known simply as “the catch,” and is perhaps the most recognized defensive play in baseball’s long and storied history, the one that made rising star Willie Mays famous.

This is the first game of the 1954 World Series between the Cleveland Indians and the New York Giants at the Old Polo Grounds in New York City.

The Polo Grounds, home to the Giants, is an old stadium reminiscent of a giant bathtub. The foul lines are short, 277 feet in left field and 258 feet in right field, but the center field fence (the far edge of the tub) is 455 feet from home plate.

Cleveland left-hander Vic Wertz faced another lefty, Don Liddle, in the eighth inning with runners on first and second to tie the game 2-2. He was coming out of the bullpen. Liddell went 2-and-1 on a fourth-pitch fastball, and Watts hit a three-run homer to center field from nowhere else.

Not at the Polo Grounds.

Mays hit the ball shallowly in center field. As soon as the bat clicked, he ran hard with his back to home plate, caught the ball just a few steps away from the wall, grabbed the ball over his left shoulder, and quickly Turn around and throw the ball into the goal. The Giants escaped the inning unscathed and then won the game in the tenth inning^th Pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes hit a 270-foot soaring home run over the right-field fence to cap off a four-game sweep.

The San Francisco Giants announced Mays’ death at the age of 93 on Tuesday afternoon. ‘s name and “The Catch” are forever intertwined.

He played 22 seasons in Major League Baseball, most of them with the Giants in New York and San Francisco, leading the team to three National League pennants and a World Series championship. A do-it-all center fielder, Mays had a lifetime batting average of .301, 3,293 hits, 660 home runs (sixth on the all-time list) and 339 stolen bases.

He appeared in a record 24 All-Star games and won 12 Gold Gloves for his defensive excellence. As shown in “Catch,” his throwing arm is like a cannon and he’s full of talent no matter what he does, whether it’s in the outfield or on the basepaths, he’s known for catching balls and running from under the hat. famous.

“Willie Mays is the greatest player I’ve ever seen,” said Mays’ contemporary Hall of Famer and longtime broadcaster Joe Morgan. “The things he does on the court every day will blow you away. Say, ‘Damn!'”

Leo Durocher, a lifelong player and coach in baseball and Mays’ first manager with the Giants, declared his protégé “the greatest baseball player I ever saw,” Durocher met Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Hank Aaron, among others Great man.

Sportswriter John Shea talks with Willie Mays in the San Francisco Giants clubhouse at Oracle Park.

(Brad Mankin photo)

Metz’s review? In a 2004 interview with the Contra Costa Times, he said: “People always say I’m better than Babe Ruth, better than Aaron. I don’t have any question about that. … [But] That’s not what I play baseball for. I play baseball to enjoy what I do; the fans enjoy what I do, and that’s enough for me.

“I always let other people be the judge,” he told The Times in 1979. “But at the end of the day, there are better hitters, better runners, there are a lot of guys who can do it. Some Things are better for me, but I’m a well-rounded player. This is the keyword, fully.

Whether he is the best or not has been a debate for years. What’s indisputable is that as a man seemingly born to play baseball, he attracted almost equal amounts of admiration and controversy. He was beloved in New York, where he played stickball (a type of baseball played with a broom or mop handle and a rubber ball) on the streets of Harlem with neighborhood kids before heading to the ballpark, where the Giants moved When arriving in San Francisco in 1958, he received a lukewarm welcome. when he was traded to the New York Mets late in his career.

His casual “say hey” response to most people Some people think the greeting is spontaneous and natural, while others think it’s for people who can’t remember their names. He was praised for his showmanship, but reviled for his hot dogs when his too-small hat often needed the help of a flick of a finger to navigate. While some are excited about his rim-and-ball catches, others blame him for making routine games look difficult.

In an era when black players are trying to finally find a place in the long-all-white game, he has been subject to racist taunts but has also been criticized by others for not speaking more forcefully about how the game and fans mistreat black players like him. . He was always highly nervous and prone to mysterious blackouts and nervous breakdowns, leading some to question his dedication.

Through it all, Mays was playing baseball. Entering my 40s.

“Since I was 6 years old, all I’ve done is play ball,” he once said. “I never understood it when some players talked about baseball being hard work. To me, it was always just a joy. … When I was a little kid in Alabama, my dad played half Professional baseball, I remember the biggest surprise of my life was the day I found out people were paying him, which in my opinion was pretty much the best idea anyone had ever thought of – like getting paid to eat ice cream. Same.

William Howard Mays Jr.—his father was named for former President William Howard Taft—was born on May 6, 1931, in West, near Birmingham, Alabama. field. His parents divorced before he reached school age, and he lived with an aunt, but his father, a steel mill worker and former outfielder for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro National League, looked after him regularly and Make sure young Willie is getting a proper baseball education.

By the time he was 10, he was playing sandlot games with boys four or five years older, and by 14 he was pitching for his father’s steelworks team. In 1948, his father introduced the 17-year-old Mays to Black Barons head coach Lorenzo “Piper” Davis, who trained the young player and then signed him signed a $300 season contract.

Mays quickly caught the attention of major league scouts, playing home games and weekend road games for the Black Barons while in school and then playing center field full-time during the summer. On June 20, 1950, his senior year in high school, he signed with the Giants for a $6,000 bonus.

The Giants sent him to the Class B Interstate League in Trenton, New Jersey, where he hit .353 in 81 games, then transferred him to Minneapolis of the Triple-A American Association at the start of the 1951 season. . His minor league career ended after he batted .447 with eight home runs in 35 games with the Millers.

The Giants, looking for improvement after a poor start, recruited him, thrusting him into the starting lineup despite his protests that he couldn’t pitch in the major leagues.

Willie Mays puts his arm around Mickey Mantle.

(Associated Press)

Eventually, his stature grew to the point where New York fans started a heated debate over which local team had the best center fielder, the Giants with Mays and the Yankees with Mickey Mantle. The Brooklyn Dodgers have Mays. Duke Snyder, but his debut was far from a sensation. He allowed just one hit in his first 26 at-bats, a home run by the Milwaukee Braves’ Warren Spahn. and asked Durocher to send him back to Minneapolis.

“You’re going to be playing midfield for me tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, so you’d better get used to the idea,” Durocher replied. “I don’t care what you hit, I won’t send you down.”

Fueled by confidence, Mays turned around his and the Giants’ seasons. He hit 20 home runs and hit .274 as the Giants trailed Brooklyn by 13 1/2 games in mid-August before storming back to tie the pennant with the Dodgers on the final day of the season and force a three-game playoff series. game. In the ninth inning of Game 3, Mays was on the field, Bobby Thomson Hitting “the shot heard around the world,” the three-run home run won the Giants the National League Championship.

The climax of the World Series was over, with the majestic Yankees winning in six games, but Mays was on his way, and Durocher gave him his full credit. “The spark is Mace,” he said. “When it looked like we couldn’t win, he put us on his back. He carried the whole damn team.

Mays is about to enlist in the Army. He was drafted in May 1952 and played the next two seasons in khaki before retiring in March 1954, just in time for the best season of his career. He hit a league-leading .345 with 51 home runs and drove in 110 runs, helping the Giants finish five games ahead of second-place Brooklyn before sweeping the Indians in the World Series.

With a .304 batting average, 49 home runs and 141 RBIs, Mays led the Giants to another World Series appearance in 1962, but by then the team had moved to San Francisco, where he never connected with the fans like he had in New York Mingle.

Playing center field in windswept Candlestick Park was always a chore, and although Mays did it extremely well, he was always a home run threat, consistently hitting over .300 and widely considered elsewhere. An A-list star who many San Franciscans considered show-off at best and rude and distant at worst, preferring to lavish affection on his Alou brothers Jesus, Marti and Felipe; Juan Marichal; Willie McCovey; and others.

Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays in the documentary Say Hey, Willie Mays!

(HBO Sports Documentary)

Today, however, a larger-than-life bronze statue of Mays stands in Willie Mays Plaza at Oracle Park in downtown San Francisco in honor of Mays, who was inducted into the Hall of Fame as soon as he became eligible.

In May 1972, at age 41, Mays was traded back to New York and spent two forgettable seasons with the Mets, despite being well past his prime. He pitched in another Bay Area World Series after the ’73 season, his final, but when the former style guru took the field in the Mets’ outfield against the Oakland Athletics, purists and casual fans alike , baseball followers everywhere cringe, the Oakland Athletics are in seven games.

“Getting older is just a helpless injury,” Mays said afterward, later ruefully admitting that his career was extended by about two seasons.

After retiring, he worked on and off for the Mets and Giants, eventually signing a lifetime public relations contract with the Giants in 1993. He became dissatisfied with any association with baseball and retired from baseball for six years.

Both men were reinstated in 1985 when Peter Ueberroth replaced Kuhn as commissioner.

Maes’ wife of 41 years, Mae Louise, died in 2013.

Cooper is a former staff writer for The Times