The Say Hey Kid turns 75. Happy Birthday Willie Mays!

[Kadie]

MAYS AT 75
The Say Hey Kid has lots of fond memories, few regrets
John Shea, Chronicle Staff Writer

Wednesday, May 3, 2006

He's turning 75 on Saturday, and almost half of U.S. citizens weren't born when he played his final season 33 years ago. Their only image of Willie Mays might be the black-and-white film from the 1954 World Series or color clips of Mays running the bases at Candlestick Park, his legs accelerating and his cap falling.

Not everyone is familiar with the Say Hey Kid.

His five-tool distinction and childlike exuberance. His 3,283 hits and 660 home runs. His two MVPs and 12 Gold Gloves. His 24 All-Star appearances and four World Series.

His stickball commitment to the kids in Harlem. His Polo Grounds catch that robbed Vic Wertz. His four-homer game at Hank Aaron's home park in Milwaukee. His 16th-inning homer to beat Warren Spahn.

His peacekeeping mission in the Roseboro-Marichal brawl. His blasting caps commercial ("Don't touch them"). His temporary banishment by Bowie Kuhn. His tutelage of Barry Bonds.

much more...
http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2006/05/03/SPGV1IJEEB1.DTL

[JohnKleeb]

1. One of the best ever

He's one of my favorite all time playesr.

[henslee]

2. "I had it all the way," the Say Hey Kid said later with a grin....

A little about Mays and how he got his nickname.... from an ESPN pice by Larry Schwartz....


Mays, a two-time MVP who hit 660 home runs and won 12 Gold Gloves, and
"was probably the best all-around player when you take everything into consideration," says Sandy Koufax about Willie Mays.

May's Signature game

Sept. 29, 1954 -- Mays and others believe he made better catches than his robbery of Vic Wertz. But because of the stage - Game 1 of the World Series - it is regarded as his greatest.

The game was tied 2-2 in the eighth inning when the Giants' Don Liddle relieved to face Wertz with runners on first and second and nobody out. The Cleveland Indians slugger cracked a drive to deep centerfield in the Polo Grounds, far over Mays' head. But Mays, traveling on the wings of the wind, raced after it. With his back to the infield, with his arms extended and his hands cupped, he caught the ball facing the right-centerfield bleachers, an estimated 450 feet from home plate. Then he swiftly pirouetted and, like a shot putter, threw the ball back in, losing his hat and his balance in the process.

"I had it all the way," the Say Hey Kid said later with a grin.

In the bottom of the 10th, Mays walked and stole second. After an intentional walk, Dusty Rhodes pinch-hit a three-run homer that gave the Giants a 5-2 victory on their way to a surprising Series sweep.


How Mays got his nickname, THE SAY HEY KID
# New York Journal American sportswriter Barney Kremenko said that in Mays' rookie season, the reticent Mays "would blurt 'Say who,' 'Say what,' 'Say where,' 'Say hey.' In my paper, I tabbed him the 'Say Hey Kid.' It stuck."

# Mays' biggest booster was his first manager with the Giants, Leo Durocher. "I never taught him anything," Durocher said. "He taught me. Willie is the greatest player I ever saw. No doubt in my mind."

# Three years before making "The Catch," Mays made "The Throw." On Aug. 15, 1951, he ran down Carl Furillo's drive in right-center, some 330 feet from home, wheeled, and threw out Billy Cox trying to score from third base. "It was a good play, but I got to see him do it again," Dodgers manager Charlie Dressen said after the 3-1 loss.

# Mays was on deck when Bobby Thomson homered to win the 1951 pennant.

# In 1954, "Say Hey" (the Willie Mays song) was recorded by the Treniers, with Mays singing background and Quincy Jones directing the orchestra.

# From 1954-63, Mays batted lower than .300 just once (.296 in 1956). His highest averages were .347 in the team's first year in San Francisco (1958) and his National League-leading .345 in 1954.

# When the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco, Mays was supplanted as a local icon by Orlando Cepeda. "This is the damnedest city," said Frank Conniff of the Hearst newspapers. "They cheer Khrushchev and boo Willie Mays."

# On April 30, 1961, Mays hit four homers against the Braves (the first two off Lew Burdette) in a 14-4 victory in Milwaukee.

# On the last regularly scheduled game of the 1962 season, Mays' homer off Houston's Dick Farrell in the eighth inning gave the Giants a 2-1 victory and enabled them to tie the Dodgers (1-0 losers) for first place. In the playoff opener, Mays hit two homers. In the ninth inning of the deciding third game, he had a key single in a four-run rally as the Giants won, 6-4.

# Hitting 37 homers in 1966 gave a 35-year-old Mays a total of 542. But he never hit more than 28 again, and had just 118 in his final seven seasons to finish with 660. (By comparison, Hank Aaron hit 245 homers after his 35th birthday.)

# Only Mays, Aaron and Eddie Murray have 3,000 hits and 500 homers.

# In Mays' first game after being traded by the Giants to the Mets, in 1972, his homer gave New York a 5-4 win over his former team.

# Mays holds the record for most home runs in extra innings, 22.

# Mays never homered in 20 World Series games. He batted just .239 with only six RBI in 71 at-bats as his teams went 1-3.

# Mays, Aaron and Stan Musial played in the most All-Star Games (24). Mays also holds All-Star records for at-bats (75), hits (23), runs (20), triples (3, tied with Brooks Robinson) and total bases (40, tied with Musial).

# Voted into the Hall of Fame in 1979, he was the ninth player to be so honored in his first year of eligibility. But when 23 of 432 baseball writers failed to vote for Mays, Dick Young wrote, "If Jesus Christ were to show up with his old baseball glove, some guys wouldn't vote for him. He dropped the cross three times, didn't he?"

[bumblebee1]

3. Love the Dick Young comment, henslee.

It gave me quite a good chuckle.


Happy birthday to ya, Willie.

[Oeditpus Rex]

4. His real nickname:

"Buck."

That's what the Giants, other players, New York and SF sportswriters all called him.

It was a shortened form of "Buckduck," a more polite way of saying "duck-butt," which was hung on him by a childhood friend who noted that Mays walked a bit oddly because of his rather prominent, duck-like hindquarters. Even his aunt, who raised him, concurred that he was "high-bottomed."

He was the best ever.

Forgot somethin' re names: In a lot of "official" books, you'll see Mays's name as Willie Howard Mays or Willie Howard Mays Jr. or something like that. These are wrong; his name is Willie Mays. Period.

[Brigid]

5. Related trivia question:

When this player retired in 1976, he was the last player in the majors to have come up from the Negro Leagues. What is his name?

Happy Birthday, Willie Mays! :party:

[Oeditpus Rex]

6. Hank Aaron

What do I win? :bounce:

[Brigid]

7. You win this:

:toast: Congratulations! :D

[Oeditpus Rex]

8. I wasn't actually aware

that Aaron was the last to make the jump. But I knew he'd played in the Negro Leagues and that '76 was his last season, so it was a pretty easy guess.

Turnabout: Can you name the Negro League club Mays played for? (Bonus: In his first season, who was often next to him in the outfield?)

[JohnKleeb]

10. I know the bonus

his old man Kitty KAt. I don't know the team though.

[Oeditpus Rex]

11. Whoa, you knew his dad's nick!

:thumbsup:

(His real name was Walter.)

I'll leave the club out there in case Brigid knows it.

Meantime, let's go for the bigger stuff: What was he hitting, and for what Triple-A club, when the Giants called him up?

[JohnKleeb]

12. I have a 25 year old oral baseball history book

It's really great because it includes the thoughts of former players going in to the 80's. I would love to see another book with many of hte same guys with their thoughts on the game now. Minnesota Millers and he was hitting 477 I forgot intially but checked it.

[Oeditpus Rex]

13. I'll give it to ya

Minneapolis Millers.

I've read Mays's autobiography (the real one, not one of the ones written about him) about five times. :D

There's a great bit in it where Mays recalls when the Giants called him up and he was on the phone with Durocher. Mays told him, "I can't play that kind of ball."

"What can't you do?"

"Hit."

"What are you hitting now?"

".477."

Mays then wrote, "For all I know, that was the only time in his life, before or since, that Durocher was at a loss for words."

:rofl:

[JohnKleeb]

16. Baseball is the only sport where if you are successful

3 out of 10 times you're considered good, and if its 4 out of 10 you're considered great. I guess there's some parrellel to life as a whole there. Mays played before I was born but my dad was a big fan and I was born on the 24th day of the month hence why 24 is my lucky number. He really was probably the best all around player of all time in my opinion. Hit for average, power, ran for speed, great defense, and was just amazing to watch. "The Catch" is my all time favorite baseball play. It's just WOW

[Oeditpus Rex]

25. Funny thing about 'The Catch'

Mays himself said, "I doubt there's a day goes by in the major leagues that some outfielder doesn't make a tougher play on a ball than I made on that one." I don't think he was being modest because he described all the things the ball didn't do — rise, drop, bend, etc. — that made it not that tough to catch.

Well... not that tough for him, maybe. :D

[Brigid]

14. Indianapolis Clowns (1952).

I didn't find any mention of the Minneapolis Millers.

http://www.baseballhalloffame.org/hofers_and_honorees/hofer_bios/aaron_hank.htm

[Oeditpus Rex]

17. No — Mays

Not Aaron.

And you cheated. :spank:

[Brigid]

20. No -- it's research.

I went to a reliable source and looked it up. That's called research. And for this question, I thought we were talking about Aaron. :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

31. And now you're stalling

*cue "Jeopardy" theme*

[Brigid]

35. So what are you asking?

I thought you already got answers to your questions that I thought were about Aaron, but were actually about Mays. I think we have a communication gap going on here. :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

37. That's likely

It can be hard to make sense out of sub-threads upon sub-threads.

Question was, which Negro League club did Mays play for?

[Brigid]

38. Kansas City Monarchs.

And no, I didn't look it up. :P

[Oeditpus Rex]

39. *bzzzt*

Birmingham Black Barons.

But we have some lovely parting gifts for you. Jay?

That's right, Bob! It's a genuine Cheese Straightener!

[Brigid]

40. Aw, man!

A cheese straightener? I wanted the red Mustang convertible! :(

[Oeditpus Rex]

41. As a Lovely Parting Gift?

You'll take the cheese straightener and like it!




Okay, okay — here's a copy of our home game. Now, get lost!

[maveric]

34. Mobile Bay Bears?

[Kadie]

42. I have really enjoyed reading this thread today

Thanks everyone for responding to my post. :hi:

[JohnKleeb]

9. Here's a nice picture of Clemente, Mays, and Aaron

[Oeditpus Rex]

15. I can hardly think

of a better outfield than that. :thumbsup:

Man, I'd pay just to watch Mays and Clemente run the bases. I doubt there were ever two guys who played the game with more verve.

[JohnKleeb]

18. I have a great admiration for Clemente even if he

did ruin my team's world series hopes in 71. He really is someone these people who say oh these athletes do no good. I was in the campus library today looking at SI and someone quoted Clemente as saying "If you are successful and do nothing to help others, you're wasting your time on this earth." He really was not only a great ball player but a great humanitarian too.

[Brigid]

23. He died during a humanitarian mission too.

I think that if he could have chosen how he was to go, he would have chosen that.

[JohnKleeb]

27. Thats what I meant

He was on his way to help victims of a Nircuagian Earthquake. He died far too young at 38.

[livetohike]

19. Great pic! Clemente was/is my favorite and I saw Mays and Aaron

at the old Forbes Field in Pgh. many, many times :-). Thanks for the memory. :-)

[JohnKleeb]

21. There's a new bio out on Clemente

I gotta read that. I hate that he ruined the Birds '71 world series hopes however he was a great guy who also helped ruin the Yankees '60 world series so it's all good. I read a short bio of him that was at my cousin's beach house, what a guy he was. He died as he lived helping others.

[livetohike]

22. I still have the Pgh paper from the day Clemente's plane went down

One of the saddest days in my life up until then :cry:. I have to get that new bio. Have you seen his picture on the Wheaties box?

[JohnKleeb]

28. Havent

It's a sad thing that his last hit was 3000 exactly.

[henslee]

29. Wow, Great pic, Thanks. I have never seen a bad pic of Clemente.

He was one photogenic dude.

[maveric]

24. He won only 2 MVP's. But was in the top five 10 times!

http://www.baseball-reference.com/m/mayswi01.shtml
IMHO, Willie Mays is the best "all around" ballplayer, period! He had all the neccesary tools.
And if I'm not mistaken, spent two years in the US Army during the Korean war. Came back in 1954 and led his NY Giants to the World Series.
Truly a Class Act too!
Happy 75th Willie!

[JohnKleeb]

26. Right he was in the army

Had that not happened IMO he could have broken Ruth's all time homers record. They say the same about Ted Williams sometimes too who was also one of the best.

[Brigid]

30. Williams was an arrogant jerk.

Give me Mays or Aaron or Clemente any day.

[JohnKleeb]

33. Yeah but you can't deny he was great

My dad worshipped Mays as a kid but ended up waiting on Williams. I got Warren Spahn's autography out of the deal. The best left handed starter ever in my opinion and makes it all the more sweeter since I pitched lefty.

[Oeditpus Rex]

36. He didn't do much in the Army, though

Except play ball. :D

They made him an instructor, and one day at Camp Eustis (I think he said it was in Virginia) he was working with a guy who, in Mays's words, "...thought the way to catch a fly ball was like he was taking out an old railroad watch and looking at it." Mays showed him the proper way, and the guy said, "Try it my way." Mays did, and noticed how natural it felt.

Thus was the "basket catch" born.

[Brigid]

32. Ken Burns's "Baseball"

Has anyone else seen it? I have it on DVD, and I love it.

[k_jerome]

43. During the Pittsburgh drug trials in the mid-1980s...

outfielder John Milner testified that Willie Mays introduced him to a liquid amphetamine known as "red juice."

Amphetamines have been used as performance enhancing drugs in sports for decades. Does this tarnish Mays legacy?