RIP Willie Mays

Leo went over to Willie and asked, “What’s the matter, son?” Willie turned to his manager and with tears streaming down his cheeks, replied:

“I don’t belong up here…I can’t play here…I can’t help you Missa’ Leo. Send me back to the minors.”

Leo smiled, patted Willie on the back, and simply said:

“Look son, I brought you up here to do one thing. That’s to play center field. You’re the best center fielder I’ve ever seen. As long as I’m here, you’re going to play center field. Tomorrow, next week, next month. As long as Leo Durocher is manager of this team you will be on this club because you’re the best ball player I have ever seen.”

The rest, as they say, is history. On his 24th at bat, Willie hit a homer over the left field fence off Warren Spahn who later joked, “I’ll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie forever if I’d only struck him out.”


A sad farewell for all of baseball. ... RIP, Willie Mays.


https://www.baseballhistorycomesalive.com/leo-durocher-and-willie-mays-2/

 

My first game was in 1969 against Reds and while I admired Mays in CF my 6yr old self thought it was funny saying “hey Bench you belong on the bench ha ha ha”

 

My biggest regret is I had a signed Mays poster commemorating when he hit No. 600 that my dad got at the downtown dept store in S.F. (Emporium) 0that Mays signed “to QTLAW”and I freakin LOST IT!!! in my 20’s!!!

 

Yeah, as a dork who wore jerseys before it was cool to wear them (ok, it's still not cool, but everyone wears them), I got called "Johnny Bench-warmer" more than one or two (thousand) times.

 

I saw Willie

Many of the patronizing, paternalistic stories about the teenage-twenties Say Hey Willie had similar templates recounting the childish manchild blurting out some hollering exclamation in ebonics/jivespeak to some seasoned savvy White Savior authority figure (often Durocher).

Bill Veeck mentioned this story genre in his second baseball book, "The Hustler's Handbook," which had a chapter recounting the Giants internal politics (including Horace Stoneham's drinking habits), taking note of a then frequent hot take among sports columnists that the formerly sunny and sparkly Say Hey Willie who played stickball in the streets of Manhattan,had turned sullen and surly in his middle age in dank and dreary San Francisco.

Essentially Veeck said Mays had never been a smiling shuffling shoeshine boy bending and stooping at the beck and call of "Massah Leo," and it wasn't too surprising he'd had his fill of it.

 

Dude. You saw Mays bat against Koufax. That’s just about Peak Baseball, right there. Wow.

 

He was the greatest living baseball player for so many years - there was never even a debate about it. Now do we go with, greatest living Hall of Famer? Or flip a coin with ARod and Bonds?

 

My father saw numerous Giants (baseball and football) games at the Polo Grounds but most clearly recalled the game with a starting outfield of Monte Irvin, Mays and Hank Thompson, the first all-black outfield anyone had seen in MLB. "We were in shock," he told me more than once.

Heights and weights are somewhat subjective, but among less gargantuan smaller power hitters Baseball Reference has Mookie Betts at 5-9 180 and Mays at 5-10 170.

 

The radio call when Mays passed. Dave Flemming completely broke as he made the announcement.

 

I'd say Koufax is the greatest living Hall of Famer. Otherwise, it'd be Mike Schmidt or Johnny Bench.

 

Dave spoke for all of us who pledged allegiance to the orange and black.