On this Juneteenth day, let's take a break from the acrimony and accusations. We were planning on talking about how, growing up- feeling enlightened about race although at times we lived in communities that were not- we had no idea about Juneteenth and that it really did not enter our consciousness until relatively recently.
And then the greatest baseball player of all time died.
Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid died Tuesday at 93.
His stats speak for themselves. 660 home runs. Life time 301batting average. 3,292 hits. 12 Gold Gloves. Rookie of the year in 1951 after starting out hitting 1 for 26. Two time MVP. Baseball is a game of stats, which is one reason why we love it. But it is so much more than stats and Willie Mays was so much more than stats. No player ever had the combination of power, speed, athleticism, arm, and grace. Babe Ruth combined power and athleticism (he was a pitcher first), but you do not hear people talk about his arm or speed on the base paths. Hank Arron is the closest to Mays, and you can make an argument for Clemente, but in the end, Willie Mays stands alone.
When you watch the most famous catch in baseball history, there are a few things to keep in mind. It was game one of the 1954 World Series at the Polo Grounds. Vic Wertz was the batter. The ball was hit to centerfield which measured 483 feet at its deepest. Mays took off on a full run and his back was to the ball when he caught it at around 450 feet. The game was tied 2-2 in the eighth inning and Cleveland had runners on first and second- so the catch, in a tied world series game, had added stress and importance.
And then after the catch, in one fluid moment Mays turns and throws a bullet to second base holding the runner. The catch would have been enough for mere mortals, but Mays was not a mere mortal. His throw is also one of the greatest in the history of the game.
The game ended in the tenth inning. Mays set up the winning run by walking and then Dusty Rhodes hit a home run off of Bob Lemon and the Giants were on their way to a four-game sweep.
Many have athletic ability. Many can perform under the stress of the moment. But it is the rare person who can use all of their abilities at a time when they are needed most. The man met the moment in Game One of the World Series in 1954 and it was the first of what would be many moments for the greatest ballplayer of all time.
As a lifetime Cleveland baseball fan, the story of The Catch has always been bittersweet to me. If Mays misses it, or if his throw to second (maybe more remarkable than The Catch) isn't so perfect, then maybe Cleveland scores. If they score, maybe they win Game 1. If they win Game 1, they certainly don't get swept and maybe the whole Series turns out differently.
ReplyDeleteBut Mays made The Catch, and then he made The Throw (I think capital letters are warranted), and then he helped the Giants score and . . . and I'm still waiting for my team to win a Series.
Add to that the fact that Mays was, by all accounts, an utterly decent fellow. I stop short of calling any sports figure a hero. But Mays was hell of a guy, unbroken by coming up through the segregated era of the game, a generous spirit, a complete gentleman.
Few men achieve in their fields what Mays achieved in his; few leave a legacy like his. He is worth remembering.
Willie was a childhood hero to me. His accomplishments in all facets of the game were astonishing as well as he personified class and honor. Willie, Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks ...I am so lucky to have witnessed their greatness and experienced them as terrific role models
ReplyDelete"On this Juneteenth day, let's take a break from the acrimony and accusations."
ReplyDeleteNot possible. For a certain side in the current culture wars, they think Juneteenth is some illegitimate fabricated holiday which they refuse to recognize. You can't try to celebrate an end of slavery without somebody shrieking how American slavery wasn't so bad and disparaging George Floyd as some thug who had it coming.
Actually, the “certain side” is only YOU. The other two commenters followed Rumpole’s lead. And more than that, signed their names.
DeleteThat catch never ceases to amaze me. And the throw … I cannot think of anyone today who could do that. The only player who I saw make catches, spin and throw strikes like Mays was Clemente. Look at some of his throws in the 71 series. It’s not diminishing his abilities to call those throws “Mays-like”.
ReplyDeleteThanks for this Rumpole.
What about Giafrondido’s catch of the ball Joltin Joe Dimaggo hit?
ReplyDeleteWillie Mays was my favorite player back in an era in which baseball still mattered. I saw him hit a home run in the first baseball game I ever went to--1963 or 64 against the St. Louis Cardinals at Sportsman's Park. My biggest sports thrill until I saw Devin Hester run back the opening kickoff at the 2007 Super Bowl.
ReplyDeleteI love players that can hit a lot of homers and still have a batting average above .300. Such a rare feat.
ReplyDeleteMonte Irving was in right field, when Willie made his incredible over the shoulder catch. In an interview with Bob Costas, years later, he was asked “did Willie say anything to you on the way back into the infield” , Irving replied, he (Willie) said “he had it all the way”.
ReplyDeleteFake ST
ReplyDeleteSay hey SAO likes to cover up corruption
ReplyDeleteGetting a Willie Mays baseball card and a stick of bubble gum in a Topps card pack was like hitting the lottery for a white kid like me in 1964.
ReplyDeleteJuneteenth is misunderstood and its significance is under appreciated. Juneteenth celebrates the Emancipation Proclamation, a presidential proclamation and executive order issued by President Abraham Lincoln on January 1, 1863, that help end the Civil War. The Proclamation freed about 4 million enslaved African Americans in the Confederate states. For example, the 1860 Marion County Florida census listed 8,609 residents, and of these, 5,314 were slaves. Enslaved African Americans had enormous economic value to the Confederacy. A slave could be sold at auction for hundreds or thousands of dollars. The Emancipation Proclamation removed one of the Confederacy’s largest financial assets, and undermined the Confederacy’s ability to borrow money to continue to wage the Civil War. The Emancipation Proclamation changed the status of slaves to "contraband" that was then lawfully confiscated from the slave master by the Union Army, and then set free. Over 200,000 freed slaves then joined the Union Army and fought against the Confederacy. https://www.history.com/topics/american-civil-war/black-civil-war-soldiers
Following on 9:03am's comments, here are the words of the Confederates of Mississippi, written and published by them in their Declaration of Secession:
ReplyDeleteOur position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin.
YUCK and WOW. I've read that countless times since college 25 years ago, and every time I read it, I am surprised again at just how ick it is.
Happy Juneteenth (almost a week late).