Willie Mays was born in 1931, the same year both of my parents were born. My Mom is still alive and will turn 93 in September. My Dad was born in May—twelve days after Willie. He died in 1998. I was born in November of 1959. My first baseball game is too hazy, but it would have been at Candlestick Park in 1967 or 1968. I remember the 1969 season—Bobby Bonds was a phenom and Willie McCovey won the NL MVP. Dad took us to the first playoff game in 1971 against the Pirates. Tito Fuentes, my favorite player, hit a home run.
Willie Mays was of course a central figure on all of those Giants teams. He was unfortunately gone by 1972 and finished his final days with the Mets. Willie was 40 in 1971, his last productive season, and the Giants wouldn't make it back to the post-season again until 1987.
I didn't get to see the prime superstar seasons that Willie dazzled baseball with for over a decade. I saw an aging baseball legend. Even then, when I was a kid, people generally agreed that Willie was the best player ever. But as a boy I was much more excited about other guys on the team. I suppose I took Mays for granted. And then he was gone for a long time and the team was mostly pretty bad. They finally re-united with him in 1986 and it's been a happy relationship ever since.
Clearly Willie Mays is one of the greatest ballplayers of all time. As Giants fans we got to enjoy him more than everyone else, and that's pretty cool.
Rest in peace, Willie.
--M.C.
2 comments:
I lived in N.Y. in the 1950's, and one thing I do not think folks got to see as well in the SF era, was the arm on the young Willie Mays. He must have hurt his arm a bit, because his arm was never quite the same in the SF era. I saw him play at the Polo Grounds. I also often got to see the Yankees, and the great Mickey Mantle Play. They were both great. But there was always something more about Willie. I could only say that seeing Mays play, live in those days was nothing short of spiritual. Even the term charisma is not enough to describe it.
When Mays walked out on the field during batting practice, either to hit, or shag fly balls, it seemed as if the entire aura in the ballpark changed. I suspect almost everyone felt it.
As a relatively old folks, both my wife and I usually find time flies in the evening. Usually we think it is around 11PM and turn around and it is already 1AM. It happens all the time.
The night Willie died, time seemed to stand still. The opposite occurred My wife and I thought it must be 1AM and then turned around and it was only about 10:30 PM. Yes the death of the Say Hey Kid, did alter the space time continuum, in ways that I certainly cannot explain.
Finally my dad was born in 1908, and came to this country in time, to watch the great Yankee and Giants teams of the 1920's. He was a giants fan, although I believe his first date with my mom was going to a Yankees game in the late 1920's In my dad's opinion, who have the opportunity to see Ruth, Gehrig, Dimaggio, and Ott play live, would say when I asked, that Mays was better than all of them.
I saw Michael Jordan play in a Spring training game, when he tried to cross sports. It is true that he had something special, and all eyes went to Jordon, but it was not due to his baseball skills, which he had not nurtured, while spending all those years as a basketball superstar. I suspect that if he had chosen baseball, he would have been one of the greats, but that is debatable.
RIP Wille, your loss feels like the loss of a close family member, and I am sure that many people feel the same way.
I knew you would have something more personal to say about Willie, so thanks for that!
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