Say HEY! Willie Mays, 75 on Saturday

Alvin Dark tried to take Marichal out for the first time in the ninth. The conversation did not go well. Marichal refused to go, pointing to the Braves dugout at the 42-year-old counterpart and telling his manager, "I am not going to come out of that game as long as that old man is still pitching."

Dark tried again in the 12th, again to no avail. Before the 15th, Marichal thought he spotted a reliever coming in from the bullpen, so he hastily grabbed his glove and cap and raced out to the mound to reclaim his territory.

when men were men and hitters weren't that good.

Didn't realize this was out there till I saw it in a bookstore today:

http://i1059.photobucket.com/albums/t427/sayhey1/barra_zps4fbec2dd.jpg

Still on the expensive side. Barra's great.

superstar living, 1954

http://thestacks.deadspin.com/willie-mays-mvp-eats-breakfast-in-his-little-rented-a-1349890009

I love the first comment: "This photo is why Marvin Miller should be in the Hall Of Fame"

http://www.sbnation.com/lookit/2014/10/16/6990323/heres-a-picture-of-willie-mays-holding-a-dog-in-an-elevator

OMG PUPPEH!

Happy now?

yeah you also ignored the beautiful 'happiness is a mets victory' picture i posted FOR YOU MORBS.

yes, yr a good man. xp

No, I didn't! Just silent. I've read about that kid's banner for decades (it's not me).

I'll put this here instead of the Trout thread:

http://www.halosheaven.com/2015/9/30/9424049/mike-trout-five-tool-players-in-mlb-angels

Bought an old issue of Life today (James Earl Ray/Sirhan Sirhan cover) and found this ad inside:

https://smokingwithhank.files.wordpress.com/2012/07/willie-mays-franks-redhot1.jpg

https://scontent-ord1-1.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xlf1/v/t1.0-9/12278622_10153199025701828_7951385441482582750_n.jpg?oh=418ca45407ac7a388f73e0b8f5b7eb16&oe=56E5C5FB

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/ChzLJSIXEAAw9Zb.jpg

85

I had my vintage Mays shirt on at the Jays game tonight.

Happy Birthday to the Say Hey Kid. 85 and was at the ballpark for his birthday.

You've probably seen this by now--can't figure out how to embed the clip.

http://www.mccoveychronicles.com/2016/5/6/11614296/president-obama-willie-mays-happy-birthday

Little things mean a lot. Notwithstanding that there's staff there to initiate and look after these things, I don't think you'd have seen this if McCain or Romney had been president.

that was Great! thanks for sharing clemenza.

otoh everyone would give Kissinger a medal, that we all know

...that is, Jesus fucking Christ.

I've tried hard the past year-plus not to respond to your idiocy, but this time I will. Did it ever occur to you that a gesture like that might mean something to Willie Mays?

it was fine til you brought McCain and Mitt into it. Just pretend America isn't here.

When I saw his name at the top of that newsy Facebook sidebar, I assumed that was it. No--anniversary of the Catch.

On this date in 1954, Willie Mays made one of the most iconic defensive plays in World Series history. The Giants center fielder tracked down Vic Wertz's long fly ball to make "The Catch" — an over-the-head basket grab in deep center field at the Polo Grounds — during a crucial moment in Game 1 against the Indians. The Giants went on to win the World Series in a four-game sweep.

Today, Major League Baseball announced that the World Series MVP trophy has been renamed in honor of the Say Hey Kid.

http://m.mlb.com/news/article/256686298/world-series-mvp-award-renamed-for-willie-mays/

That rules

88 today

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UduDreaZq6c

And Happy Birthday too to Orson Welles and Sigmund Freud--May 6, genius day.

and John Flansburgh of They Might be Giants and frogbs

Have a good one--great day for your birthday.

say HEY

90 today. (Can't find the thread I once started on May 6 birthdays--Mays, Orson Welles, and Freud.)

91 today, happy birthday

https://www.mlb.com/news/willie-mays-best-stats-and-accomplishments

Hope to see this somewhere:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-news/hbo-willie-mays-documentary-1235229775/

Still one of the greatest moments in baseball history pic.twitter.com/EsPYqCXRaf

— BaseballHistoryNut (@nut_history) December 13, 2022

It really was, I'd agree. I don't think Mays is all that mobile these days, but if at all possible, I really wish they'd do the same for him next All-Star Game.

He was at one of the last games of the season - had hip surgery recently and wants to be at spring training.

There was a good SI piece about this, about how he didn’t want to be seen as a a museum piece and just enjoys spending time in the clubhouse with players.

I respect anything Willie says or wants, but watching all those players gather around Williams that year was just unbelievable--especially Gwynn next to him, whose chance at .400 five years earlier was cut short by the strike. (If you have a sharp eye, apparently there are 19 HOF'ers in that photo.)

I kept meaning to post this and today I found it in my tabs: Willie Mays talking to young Giants rookies in winter 2009. Bold from the original formatting, italics his!

The 25 or so young players sat in chairs encircling Mays, who sat behind a small table.

“All right, guys, c’mon, what else?’’ Mays said, prompting the next question.

Ever get timed in the 60?
“No, no! I didn’t run! I told them, ‘I can’t run the ball over the fence.’ When they were out running, I was asleep in the clubhouse. They got you just running here? You doing some hitting?’’

No, the players said. Just conditioning work.
“That’s not fun! Maybe I should say something. You want to hit a little bit and then go run. You got to enjoy yourself.’’

He told them about his struggles against Drysdale, Gibson, Koufax and Bob Rush then added: “I made up for it on all the other guys, the scrubs. I destroyed them.’’

Best players you ever saw?
Robert Clemente, Mays said. Barry Bonds — “If I don’t say Barry, he’ll start a fight.’’ Bobby Bonds (Now, he could run!’’ ) , Maury Wills (“Played a good shortstop.’’) and Frank Robinson (“Triple Crown winner’’).

What did you do in the off-season?
“Work, man, work! That’s a very good question. I played basketball, football — touch football — they didn’t know I played football! I had a 32 waistline. I worked out and played all the time. No time to lay around. Had to keep myself in shape. Played winter ball two times.’’

We’ve heard from other major-league players about what makes a good teammate. What’s your definition?
“In 1962, they made me captain. I positioned the outfielders, the infielders, I’d call pitches from centerfield — he didn’t have to take them but I wanted him throw a pitch I thought I could catch. You had to get 25 guys playing together even though nine or ten don’t play much at all and it feels bad. I’d go to the manager and say, ‘I want this guy to play because he needs to feel part of the team.’ The guy would go 9 for 10 and he’d go sit down and feel like a part of the team. When guys had problems at home, they’d come to me and I’d call their wives. I knew the wives better than I knew the players!’’

Your greatest baseball achievement?
“Man, I had so many! I think my greatest achievement was when I signed my major-league contract.’’

Greatest moment?
“Hitting four home runs in Milwaukee (with 8 RBI) was the greatest thing I ever did.’’

Best park to hit in?
“Wrigley. To me the ball went out of there pretty good.’’

Worst park to hit in?
“Candlestick. The wind’s always blowing in. We put a glove to a fence to see if it would fall and it didn’t fall. We could even hit it out in batting practice.
“I know you guys are saying, ‘Oh, hell, he didn’t do all this stuff. Oh yes I did.’’

What was your farthest home run?
“I never worried about that! You just get it over the fence! You don’t care how far it went.’’

What effect did race have back when you played?
“We went to some towns and I couldn’t stay in the same hotel. I remember once in Hagerstown, they dropped me off on the other side of the tracks. You guys from the South, you know what the other side of the track is. So they drop me off and I’m in a hotel, and at 2 o’clock in the morning two or three guys come through the window and sleep the rest of the night on my floor, and then at 6 a.m. they get up and go back out the window. They did the same thing the next night, watching out for me. Nothing was ever said.

“My father told me no matter what anybody said, never to fight. Turn the other cheek. I’d call him up and he’d ask, “Did you fight today?’ Back then, you had to make sure you were bigger than those people who called you names. They called you all kinds of names. But I knew for me to get ahead, I had to take all that kind of stuff. Every time somebody called me a name, I hit the ball.’’

What did you do in a slump?
“A slump is going to happen to everybody in some way. For me, a slump was 0-for-10. Everyone has a different way of getting out of a slump. I’d get out by swinging inside-out and getting a hit that way.’’

Throughout Mays’ talk, the young guys snapped photos with their cell phone, leaning close, recording forever their moment with the greatest player who ever stepped on a baseball field.

I have a great Willie Mays story involving a collector friend of mine.

My friend's a hardcore collector, so he wants things signed a precise way: certain kind of Sharpie, certain spot, perfectly legible, etc. He was at a show to get Mays' signature--having paid a pretty good amount, I'm sure--and when he got up to the table, Mays wouldn't use the Sharpie my friend offered him. So my friend said something like "Okay, fine; I'm going to go and get a refund." He starts to walk away, and Mays call him back. With great disdain, he takes my friend's Sharpie and half-heartedly signs whatever it was my friend had brought along (not a card; probably a photo). I can't remember if my friend was satisfied or not, but he took his item and went and stood by a wall. Mays, who had continued signing, spotted my friend and stopped everything.

"I'm not signing anything more until that guy"--points at my friend--"leaves."

That's as much as I remember; there was no great drama at the end, so I assume my friend just left, content with the autograph and the story he could tell for the rest of his life.

I really can’t understand that mentality. You’re meeting a living legend and you complain about the marker. Would personally never tell that story.

I would never pay for an autography myself (though I regret just a little not getting Thomson/Branca to sign together in one of the two Cooperstown trips I made), but that's a whole different world. Mays and players of his stature are getting paid extremely well; my friend is entitled to get a clear autograph for his money. I mean, that's the basic agreement.

I mean literally implying the guy won’t sign his name right? I’d be insulted too.

Don't get me wrong, I revere Mays. And I'm much more open to players from the '50s and '60s--especially African-American players--making good money at these signings; they were criminally underpaid throughout their careers. But with that stipulated, it's still a transaction where both parties should be happy.

I'm not sure what you mean...my friend doesn't imply that Mays wouldn't sign; it's that he wanted to sign with just a regular pen, which is just not what an autograph collector wants for his (guessing, and I'm not sure how far back this was) ~$100 or $150.

"autography"--I invented a new word. It's like an autograph, but more fun.

If you have 150-200 to spend on someone’s signature… maybe just take the L and don’t be a dick to Willie Mays ffs

Sorry 100-150!

I think where your buddy went wrong was in saying he was gonna get a refund. Makes him sound like a prima donna.

So if you can afford something, it's okay to not get what you thought you were paying for? What should my friend have done: said, "That's fine, sign with whatever you want--crayon will be fine"? If he doesn't get a clear signature, it's of no value to him--that's what a collector wants, even though such a mindset might not make sense to me or you.

If you read the post I made right before yours, Mays speaks pretty plainly about the things he went through as a black player to the point his teammates felt the need to sleep in his room to protect him. I think living through shit like that would make anyone pretty intolerant of lots of petty nonsense. Your friend was entitled to his autograph, he wasn’t entitled to tsk tsk a guy who’s probably gone through more shit then he’ll ever live through in his life because he preferred to use a biro.

What should my friend have done: said, "That's fine, sign with whatever you want--crayon will be fine"?

Yes.

We're going to have to disagree--a first, I know. My friend knows Mays's background very well, I assure you; he knows all about Willie Mays, that's why he wants his autograph. (His favourite player ever is Clemente.) But older players, black and white, make a lot of money signing autographs. People who watched them growing up go to those shows to get their autographs. And if the autograph is to have value--display value, investment value, whatever--something that's not going to last, or is illegible, isn't good enough. That's the understood transaction that's taking place.

Jimbeaux, I think I'd love to do business with you.

I saw a note on Instagram posted by the Giants about how he couldn’t attend the game due to not being able to move around well, which I assumed was just his age, but yeah. What a life he had. RIP.

RIP. One of the true all times greats.

Ah, geez, with that game coming up. He was a question in our monthly trivia last night (24 Willie Mays Drive). And when I was playing tennis tonight and members had to pick a shoe medallion from #1-40, I reflexively took 24.

literally just passed by the statue outside oracle. rip

For almost 30 years I've wondered if he ever tried to get the e-mail address I grabbed in the early '90s: say✧✧✧@rocketm✧✧✧.c✧✧.

(I guess the stars are automatic.)

My favourite quote of his, from the blog where he’s talking to Giants rookies in 2009, which I pasted upthread

“I know you guys are saying, ‘Oh, hell, he didn’t do all this stuff. Oh yes I did.’’

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/GQZmS_FW0AAI0wJ?format=jpg&name=large

Cover I came up with for Radio On #4 (1994 or '95)

https://i.postimg.cc/Fsq8N7ty/willie.jpg

The text is from a Barbara Lewis song: "Tell me you can't stay put too long in one place/Without a word you go running off to some place."

CNN had Charles Barkley on: "Mr. Mays, Mr. Aaron."

The Greatest Ever.

RIP. Can't believe he's really gone, but what a life he had.

Mays vs. Koufax: https://stathead.com/baseball/vs/sandy-koufax-vs-willie-mays

Edge to Mays.

Mays vs. Gibson: https://stathead.com/baseball/vs/bob-gibson-vs-willie-mays

Whoah--now that's dominance.

at the risk of sounding like a hack baseball writer Jackson Chourio just hit an inside the park HR which very much looked like some of the Willie Mays highlights I've seen, helmet flying off just trucking around 3rd

Here's something I never knew: "Only two men no taller than 5'10" have hit more than 360 home runs: Mel Ott, who hit 511, and Mays, far out front with 660."

https://www.si.com/mlb/willie-mays-obituary-the-say-hey-kid

Incredible athlete. RIP.

RIP

Sheehan:

Close your eyes, just for a second, and picture a baseball player.

Is he in the box, bat held low, coiled, focused, potential energy seconds from becoming kinetic?

Is he rounding second, gliding more than he is running, triple on his mind?

Is his back to the diamond as he races across a sunny patch of green grass, chasing down a baseball that never had a chance to fall safely?

Is he young, the world at his feet?

Is he smiling?

Tell a fan to picture a baseball player, and there’s a pretty good chance their mind will turn to Willie Mays. Mays, who died Tuesday at the age of 93, days before MLB’s Negro Leagues tribute game in Alabama, was baseball, a do-it-all player who did it all with joy, with flair, with style. Mays, one of the last superstars to begin his career in the Negro Leagues, may have been the best to ever play our game. He did everything a baseball player could do to win games short of taking the mound.

Mays hit for average, .301 lifetime. He hit for power, with 660 career home runs, and spent much of his career second all-time behind Babe Ruth. He ran, stealing 339 bases and leading the league four years in a row at a time when the stolen base was in retreat. That speed was always on display in center field, where he ranks among the best to ever cover the 8, in part because of an arm that was strong and true. In one of the deepest competitive environments in baseball history, the National League post-integration, Mays’s teams won four pennants and one World Series, falling a game short of two other championships. His signature play -- just “The Catch” -- in the 1954 World Series is one of the iconic moments in baseball history.

The Say Hey Kid -- a nickname of disputed origins, but likely tied to Mays’s use of the phrase -- had more tools, though. He connected with people. Growing up in New York well after Mays’s career ended, one of the first things I ever learned about him was that he played stickball in the street, just like, and with, regular New York kids. He was fun to watch, his hat flying off as he went first to third, as he turned a double into an out. He was regular-sized, listed at 5’10”, 170, hardly intimidating, looking like someone you might be able to strike out if he showed up on your block waving a broomstick. Four sewers and one lost Spaldeen later...

Mays’s career bridged black-and-white to color, grass to turf, leagues to divisions, flannel to doubleknit. By the time of his rookie season in the NL, 1951, just six MLB teams had put a Black man on the field. In 1973, his final year, six Black men started in the All-Star Game. Jackie Robinson was respected for his play and for his toughness under unimaginable strain. Mays, though, was the first Black baseball player to be loved, first by the baseball world, and then the wider sports world beyond that.

Well, except for sportswriters. You know the best argument for WAR? Mays led the NL in WAR ten times. He won two MVPs. Which of those figures makes more sense to you?

Mays’s greatness, though, wasn’t in the numbers, it wasn’t even in the great defensive plays and cannonball runs from first to home and 24 trips to the All-Star Game.

No, what we can take from Mays’s career, and his life beyond it, is this: Willie Mays was baseball’s most beloved player. Whether you followed his career from the grandstand or on YouTube, whether you argued Willie vs. Mickey vs. The Duke or are not entirely sure who those other guys are, if you love baseball, there’s a little piece of you missing today.

We’ve lost Willie Mays, and there’s no replacing him.

Goddamn, this was crushing to hear, especially with the Rickwood game coming up tomorrow. It's gonna have a lot more emotional heft now.

Waiting on what I expect will be a small-book-length post from Posnanski today.

Everyone got most upset with my Willie Mays autograph story last year (which still makes me laugh! sorry), so let me make up for it here.

https://i.postimg.cc/J4yVsZ76/rickwood.jpg

Amazing photo!

One thing I've thought about over the years was how it was always comforting knowing Willie was still alive and kickin' in SF where I live. Just made this place feel more relevant and somehow made the bygone eras of both the city and baseball here still feel alive in some capacity. I'm so happy he was able to witness the championships a decade ago. RIP, legend.

Highly recommend Leo Durocher's Nice Guys Finish Last, which has lots and lots and lots of Mays. I'll look for a good excerpt tonight.

https://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/wp-content/uploads/satevepost/2021-04-12-willie-mays-leo-durocher-seps.jpg

"I don't move as well as I used to."

https://i.postimg.cc/Jz7ydJdB/mays.jpg

Posting too much, I know...They did kind of artfully not mention Gibson in #10 here:

https://www.mlb.com/news/willie-mays-best-stats-and-accomplishments

Love all these stories and memories. The game tomorrow is going to be intense.

I was Zooming last night with an internet friend (we've never met) from San Francisco who saw Mays all through his prime, going back to 1958, when he was five.

I think I have a 60s WM baseball card

Posnanski's Mays post went up today. It's less about Mays than trying to decide who is now the Greatest Living Player. I guess he wrote so much about Mays in The Baseball 100--Mays was #1--he didn't want to repeat himself.

He starts with the idea that Bonds is obviously the GLP, but eventually, and circuitously, settles on Griffey, which will no doubt raise the ire of many.

Gleaned one interesting thing from a quick skim. In '69, when the writers chose their greatest all-time and greatest living players lists, they moved Mays to RF so they could get him onto the living list:

RHP: Walter Johnson (All-Time); Bob Feller (Living--died in 2010)
LHP: Lefty Grove (All-Time); Lefty Grove (Living--died in 1975)
C: Mickey Cochrane (All-Time); Bill Dickey (Living--died in 1993)
1B: George Sisler (All-Time); George Sisler and Stan Musial (Living)
2B: Rogers Hornsby (All-Time); Charlie Gehringer (Living--died in 1993)
3B: Pie Traynor (All-Time); Pie Traynor (Living--died in 1972)
SS: Honus Wagner (All-Time); Joe Cronin (Living--died in 1984)
LF: Ty Cobb (All-Time); Ted Williams (Living--died in 2002)
CF Joe DiMaggio (All-Time); Joe DiMaggio (Living--died in 1999)
RF: Babe Ruth (All-Time); Willie Mays (Living--died in 2024)

"There’s a little bit to unpack here, particularly the fact that the writers put Willie Mays in rightfield to get him on the living team, which, you know, on the one hand, I get it, because having an all-time living baseball team without Willie Mays would have been ridiculous. On the other hand, listing Willie Mays as a rightfielder is like listing Leonardo Da Vinci as an auto mechanic. I’m sure he’d have been able to do one helluva tuneup, but it entirely misses the point."

Thinking about Jerry West and the NBA logo, this is a great idea.

https://www.tsn.ca/video/buster-olney-willie-mays-absolutely-should-be-new-mlb-logo~2943148

Haven't won since Mays passing. Down to 2 starters. This year's team just isn't any good, mediocre.

I need something else to do.

Wrong thread

from the old tyme baseball photos thread, h/t gyac

I follow former SI photographer Walter Iooss on IG (you should too) and he posted this pic he took of Willie Mays the other day on Mays’s 90th bday. Pull this picture out every time someone says “they didn’t have athletes then like we have now.” pic.twitter.com/y6buSb1o54

— Harry Arnett (@harryarnett) May 7, 2021

no idea what that last line of my post is doing there