What to say? GOAT and Say Hey.....Maybe the best of best.....So many milestones past on the way to first ballot HOF.....Last name nearly symbolic with the position of Centerfield.....The marquee name carried along as baseball moved to the west coast circa 1958…. The legend spans over 23 seasons....Plucked from the Birmingham Black Barons.... After a storied slow start in 1951 caught fire enough to earn ROY honors in the Giant’s NL Pennant winning drive.... After a hiatus for military service for the most of two years, Mays comes back with a vengeance and become a icon of NY lore along with Mantle and Duke Snyder...... a Centerfielder roamed large tracks of the 483 feet from home plate to dead center at New York’s Polo Grounds…..used almost every inch of that distance to catch Vic Wertz drive in the 1954 World Series….iconic moment was considered “the greatest catch” of all time….effectively stonewalled the juggernaut Cleveland Indian into swept away mortals….......The patron saint of the five tool players everywhere.....named to all star games 20 straight times although it could be argued that the last two he was grandfathered in....within that space of time 12 consecutive Gold Gloves....and 2 MVP awards with a multitude of runner up positions in the voting..... Rare was an offensive category that Mays did not take top honors (never led the NL in doubles)....Took or tied for the top spot in 23 out of a possible 276 positive offensive categories while playing ….Was considered the frontrunner to take over Babe Ruth’s HR record but home runs became more rare after 1966...didn’t stop the press from pressing the issues for several years after.... Even though by the 1971 year his superstar days were well gone was able to lead the NL in on base % and walks in 1971...but had trouble catching up to pitches resulting in career high 123 Ks ....much like Harmon Killebrew.....Would have been a one team player but traded to NY Mets in his twilight days of 1972.....did get his first Met HR against the Giants but Mays remaining skills eroded....Did stay another year and had his last at bat in game 3 of the 1973 Fall Classic.....tallied 660 home runs but amazing struck out very little for such as high total.
I remember it was big news in 1967 when Mays was finally NOT voter to the starting all-star team. Joining NL regulars Clemente and Aaron was Lou Brock.
ReplyDeleteI think Mays loses some notoriety playing out west as opposed when he was a NY Giant
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