Anybody who’s been around baseball for more than half a century has heard the questions more than he or she would want to admit.
Who is the best player you’ve ever seen, and/or is Willie Mays the best player ever?
Willie’s death on June 18 at the age of 93 naturally and sadly brought the subject(s) up for discussion once again. And once again I’m at a loss to answer either question definitively.
But I can say this — there was a time when Willie Mays obviously was the best player I’d NEVER seen. It goes back to the first of three unique memories I have of the man who is at least in the discussion for “best ever.”
When I was a soaking-wet-behind-the-ears college kid still riding cloud nine during the Orioles’ third year back in the big leagues, I won a contest run by WBAL Radio with an essay on which player I would pick and why, given the choice of anybody in the game.
As I now recall, there was no hesitation giving all the reasons why Mays was an easy choice. Five tools. End of discussion.
You have to remember this was 1956, when television was in its infancy. I had never seen him in person because he played in the other league, so details of Willie’s supremacy were little more than a rumor — but strong enough for him to be considered the best player in the game at that time.
Obviously, I built my case on the power of the written word (how I miss those days).
The first time I remember seeing Mays on television was during the 1954 World Series, so it’s safe to say “The Catch,” as it became to be known, played a role in winning that contest. Even more intriguing to me was a sidebar to that catch, which to this day is a top-ranked video on YouTube.
The player who hit the ball setting up “The Catch,” is the answer to a trivia question to most, but the irony was not lost on those closely following the Orioles in that inaugural 1954 season.
Vic Wertz was a legitimate left-handed power hitter — until he came to Baltimore with the St. Louis Browns team. Memorial Stadium measured 450 feet to center field — and a sadistic 447 feet to left and right center field. He hit .201 with only one home run in the first two months of the season before he was, mercifully, traded to Cleveland for right-handed pitcher Bob Chakales.
Wertz hit 14 home runs the rest of the way, helping Cleveland win the American League pennant. All of which set him up to hit the “long fly” that would end up being the signature play for the player many consider the best to ever play the game. It turned out that Baltimore’s Memorial Stadium prepared Wertz for the Polo Grounds – and very well may have been the only other park where the catch could have been made.
Eventually I did see Mays play in person, but mostly cameo All-Star and World Series appearances — and unfortunately long after those skills that had captivated me as a twenty-something were no longer in play. Still, though I regret not seeing him in his prime, there is some solace that I covered 1973 World Series, when Mays played his last three games.
I have always dodged the “best ever” declaration, because I really don’t believe there’s any way it can be quantified. But there’s no question Willie’s in the discussion.
He didn’t do anything spectacular, but the fact that Willie Mays finished his career in the World Series seemed to me like a fitting way to go out. For me personally, the simplicity of a sign that hung on (the inside of) the center-field fence at Shea Stadium said it all:
Thanks Willie
Jim Henneman can be reached at JimH@pressboxonline.com
Photo Credit: Courtesy of the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum