RIP Willie Mays

I knew about the liquor store. I did not know about the lawyer until now.

 

I got permission to name my first kid “Willie Mays QTLAW”, but at last minute changed because I thought “what if he hates baseball?”

Last story, in my late 20’s after graduating law school, my buddy who knew Willie was my idol calls me one night and says “hey you’ve got to come to [this address in S.F.] ASAP” so I drive over and in the master bathroom of the woman he was dating are W and M on the shower doors. She was renting Willie’s old house.

 

I don't remember much.

I do remember long gallops into the deepest reaches of center field. Did anyone ever make that look easier?

RIP.

 

Always thought he was a humble man.

Not old enough but I thought if I could go back to a sports era it would be living in New York City in the mid-1950s with the Giants, Dodgers and Yankees. Must have been a magical time to be a baseball fan in that area and era.

 

Missed his heyday by more than a decade but the numbers and the video convince me he was the best combination of power hitting, all-around defense and speed. No doubt he would have won more than 12 Gold Gloves if the award had started earlier.

Unfortunately, the lasting memory I have of seeing him live on TV was a 1973 game when he and George Theodore tracked down a hit to the wall. Mays retrieved the ball on the warning track. His arm was so shot, evidently, that he flipped the ball to Theodore to have him throw it back to the infield. Sad to see.

 

Koufax or Rickey Henderson would be my debate. A Koufax-ian peak is going to be the pitching standard going forward, especially as the starting pitcher all but grows extinct. His regal mysteriousness certainly enhances his legend. Rickey is definitely the best living position player. All-time leader in runs and steals and reached base more than anyone in history but Rose, Bonds & Cobb. Got on base 537 more times than Willie! Incredible.

 

I'd put Bonds and Griffey Jr. ahead of Schmidt and Bench. Plus a few pitchers - Maddux and Clemens. But I guess it depends on your definition of greatest.

 

For better or for worse, the list of living ballplayers by WAR is Bonds, Clemens, A-Rod. The best who no one has a problem with is Rickey, followed by Schmidt, Maddux, Pujols and Johnson.

That's all the ones with 100 or more.

If you add to the list anyone who has a 10-win season, you'd add Yaz, Ripken, Judge, Trout, Betts, Yount and Sosa among position players. Pitchers would be Gooden, Carlton, Jenkins, Koufax, probably some others too.

 

I think Rickey gets the nod over Bonds b/c he remained a power-speed force into his 40s. Swiped 66 bags at 39, hit .315 w/12 homers & 37 steals at 40. That said, I didn't realize until just now that Rickey never got an MVP vote and never made an All-Star Game after his 33rd birthday. Bonds, help and all, obviously collected plenty of those from 33 onward.

 

Bench was the best at the most difficult position to play.

 

Been a tough month for this boomer with sports idols of my youth like Walton, West and now Mays dying. I hope Jack Brohamer, my idol and role model as a teen/early 20s player, is hale and healthy. Losing him would be a real stunner.

 

I love Rickey but their peaks weren’t even close.