Willie Mays

Joe Posnanski captured him perfectly: https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/174098 ... llie-mays/

Glad we have a new Mays card coming in the 23.4 Card Drop (which I humbly nominated):

1958 Willie Mays Giants CF: .347, .419, .583, 121 runs, 208 hits, 33 doubles, 11 triples, 29 homers, 31 steals!

RIP... SAY HEY KID...

Most assuredly the best LF/CF/RF ever... what speed... what grace... and what an arm...

And let me tell you that his offensive stats would be much better (even though they're spectacular 660 HRs) if he had played elsewhere than Candlestick Park...

But... above all this... I'll always remember his sparkling smile and his passion for the game...

Willie... your exploits made us dream...

Exactly, Charles -- Willie played a majority of his career in one of the worst ballparks ever, Candlestick, where homers went to die. Plus, with the wind and cold, it was the most uncomfortable place ever. I went to Candlestick in the '90s during the summers, and you had to bring a winter coat and gloves! Can't imagine what it was like for the players like Mays. We're so soft baseball-wise these days -- oven mitt sliding gloves, body armor for hitters, some of the odd rule changes, etc. No Drysdale throwing at Mays' head, which happened often.

Found on Facebook with a pic of both Mays and Paige shaking hands and grinning when they were both beyond their playing years.

Willie Mays describing when as a 17-year-old, he faced the 6’ 4”” Satchel Paige for the first time: “It was 1948. Satchel had a very, very good fastball... but he threw me a little breaking ball, just to see what I could do, and I hit it off the top of the fence. I got a double. When I got to second, Satchel told the third baseman, 'Let me know when that little boy comes back up.' Three innings later, I go to kneel down in the on-deck circle, and I hear the third baseman say, 'There he is.' Satch looked at the third baseman, and then he looked at me.I walk halfway to home plate and he says, 'Little boy.' I say, 'Yes, sir?' because Satch was much older than I am, so I was trying to show respect. He walked halfway to home plate and said, 'Little boy, I'm not going to trick you. I'm going to throw you three fastballs and you're going to go sit down' and I'm saying in my mind, 'I DOOON'T THINK SOOO.' If he threw me three of the same pitch, I'm going to hit it somewhere. He threw me two fastballs and I just swung...I swung right through it.. and the third ball he threw, and I tell people this all the time, he threw the ball and as he let go he said, 'Go sit down.' This is while the ball was in the air. Yes, he struck me out with three pitches. He was just magnificent."

MM