OT: First Jerry West, now Willie Mays | The Boneyard

OT: First Jerry West, now Willie Mays

An all time great and one of my all time favorites from childhood.

Very sad
 
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RIP to one of the all time legends in sports, a true icon, and a gentleman. It stinks getting older and losing these legends.

For my dad, my uncle, my friends dads etc. I always heard Willie Mays and Mickey Mantle were the best ballplayers they ever saw.

It always seemed to me Ruth and Mays were considered the two best players ever by the public.
 
Man, just two days short of the Giants/Cards game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, where Mays played for the Black Barons at 17.

My dad's favorite player. I remember first going to Shea for a Giants game, and dad told me to watch how good the centerfielder played.

RIP #24
 
Saw him with my father in 1957 at the Polo Grounds in a doubleheader against the Pirates where the Giants swept both games.

Giants had a losing season that year, but those games showed what Mays could do: hit homers, steal bases, and catch balls.

Bill Rigney was the manager. Next year, they moved to San Francisco.
 
Was my favorite. When Giants moved to SF would listen to the games on the radio after school and wait for the Bpt Post to be delivered to see the stats. Few years after left and before Mets, dad took me with another dad and my friend to Philly to see Giants play to see Willie.
Everyone in my little league wanted to be a center fielder (Willie, Mickey and the Duke), I was so slow I ended up a catcher.
Really the end of an era.
 
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Larry Allen as well and far too young. Four amazing athletes Mays, West, Walton and Allen. Big losses in a short time period.
 
My dads fave player. Rip Willie Rip West and Walton too. Legends are fading. Crazy.
 
storrsroars said:
Man, just two days short of the Giants/Cards game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, where Mays played for the Black Barons at 17.

My dad's favorite player. I remember first going to Shea for a Giants game, and dad told me to watch how good the centerfielder played.

RIP #24
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My dad’s as well.

Top 2 player of all time.

It’s still “The Catch” 70 years later!
 
The "Say Hey"kid. Number 24 in your program and number 1 in your heart.

I'm old enough to have watched him as a Giant. Power to all fields. Speed. Incredible glove. A pioneer.
 
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Walton and West and Willie

First the bell tolled for a jovial giant,
And it tolled for a sunlit face,
And then the bell tolled for a backwoods boy
And it tolled for a perfect pace,
And then the bell tolled for the Say Hey Kid
And it tolled for an elegant grace,
And on the bell tolls for the heroes we lose,
And it tolls for the human race.
 
Saw Willie live vs the Mets in 64’. He made a throw from center field to home plate after a basket catch that looked like a clothesline just a few feet off the ground.
There were 23 voters who did not vote for him in 1979 for The Hall of Fame.
 
LF - Williams
CF- Mays
RF- Ruth

Nice outfield.
 
Saw Mays in person once when he played for the Mets, past his prime. The second game i ever went to as a kid was a Dodgers/Giants game at the Polo Grounds but Willie was in the service. That game was 9/.6/53 (i googled and found because it had a famous brawl in it). Saw Duke Snyder in person once but my man The Mick several times.

There was no way not to like Willie. RIP
 
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Mays is still the greatest all around player in the history of the game! Man played with joy and a smile every day, closest comp is a young Ken Griffey Jr who played the same.
 
Dove said:
5' 10". 170lbs. Wow.

Almost Rudy dimensions.
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That's what made MLB so appealing, them looking normal (albeit with amazing skills) and thinking you can grow up to be like a Mays. Clemente. Aaron.... Mays and Drysdale seemed to be on a number of B&W TV shows produced out in Cali during the 60s.
Always think of the times playing Strat-A-Matic Baseball when we lose a notable player from this era. Great. great player. RIP.
 
Golden era in baseball. Mays bigger than life. Yanks had the best teams but the NL overall had more great players. We'd see that every summer when the all star game(s) came around. Mays, Aaron, Banks, Matthews, Pinson, Frank Robinson, Clemente, Cepeda, Koufax, Drysdale Marichal . Had to admit they could put on a show! A lot of sandlot games were played with them in mind. "The Boys of Summer." Summer nights. Good times!
 
dennismenace said:
Golden era in baseball. Mays bigger than life. Yanks had the best teams but the NL overall had more great players. We'd see that every summer when the all star game(s) came around. Mays, Aaron, Banks, Matthews, Pinson, Frank Robinson, Clemente, Cepeda, Koufax, Drysdale Marichal . Had to admit they could put on a show! A lot of sandlot games were played with them in mind. "The Boys of Summer." Summer nights. Good times!
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“The Boys of Summer” is a great read, I haven’t read it in a while but time to reread,

The All Star games were different back then since we didn’t see the other league very much due to limited telecasts and well before inter league games. As a kid, I enjoyed seeing all the players in their team colors.
 
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