I almost always think of baseball players in terms of their Topps baseball card picture. As a kid, and yes even as an adult, I was an avid collector of cards. I had a wonderful collection that my father gave away to my cousin Rob when I went away to college around the same time he threw out my mothers wedding dress when he decided to clean out the crawl space of our house one day. Anyway, back to my story.
I used to stare at the cards every day and pretty much memorized the statistics on the back of each one, especially if it was a player I liked. Depressingly I was and am still a devoted Cubs fan so I didn't have many chances to get excited about my team growing up. What I was excited about was that we had two "technically professional" baseball teams in Chicago so we got to see every team come through town and all the players in baseball play in a time before interleague playing was introduced.
I was also lucky enough to be born during a time when baseball was at its peak of popularity and some of the games all time greats played it. I was privileged enough to see many future Hall of Famers play, either in person or on WGN-TV, with the late Jack Brickhouse calling the games for both the Cubs and the Sox. Ted Williams, Mickey Mantle, Ernie Banks, Luis Aparicio, Frank Robinson, Brooks Robinson, Sandy Koufax, Juan Marichal, and many, many more. And while I lived and died with the Cubbies even I had to grudgingly admit that the best all around baseball player I ever saw in person was Willie Mays.
His memorable play in the 1954 World Series is still called today simply as "The Catch". Whenever the Giants came to Wrigley Field to play the Cubs Jack Brickhouse and WGN would replay the catch, (which for extra credit trivia points, Jack Brickhouse called for TV at the time and it is his voice you will hear describing the play), so that we would be reminded of how likely it was going to be that he would steal at least one game from the beloved in that series.
There have been and will always be arguments about who the greatest ball player of all time was but here is the thing for me. Babe Ruth never had to face any of the great black players during his era. Cool Papa Bell in the negro leagues has the same issue in reverse, he never had to face any of the great white players while he played. Now neither of them are at fault for this, it was what it was, but what is undeniable is that Willie Mays played against the best of both in his prime and was the best there was then.
This is how I remember his look when he played. Complete focus and determination. He was the ultimate five tool player in a sport with very few ever. He could hit for average, hit for power, play superb defense, had a cannon for an arm, and could steal bases like a gazelle. He was the ultimate weapon and while I hated it when his Giants came to play the Cubs I loved watching him perform. For a baseball geek it was beautiful to see, and honestly, his statistics might not be the best in any one area but if you actually saw him play, you knew that he was the GOAT.
I played a lot of baseball and I mostly played center field at every level and it was because I wanted to be Willie Mays. My defense was above average, my arm was above average, my speed was above average but my hitting was woeful. If I had been coached better I might have hit better but I was, at best, only going to be a .250 hitter with no power. I still played like I was Willie Mays even if I couldn't hit like him.
There have been others since that have had periods of greatness, Ken Griffey Jr., Barry Bonds, Mike Trout, and a few others but they either couldn't sustain it for 23 years like Willie or they used illegal substances to maintain that level which disqualifies them for me. Of the others to follow had Mike Trout not gotten hurt so much in the last five years he was on track to be the greatest of all time but sadly that dream is over for him.
I haven't even gotten into what he meant to society, culture, and civil rights as I'll leave that for better writers than me. I will write about his baseball skills and what he meant to the game that I grew up watching and playing and remind you how magnificent he was, especially in his prime.
He died yesterday, surrounded by family at 93 years of age. HIs ability and his humanity will live on forever in pictures, in videos, and in our hearts.
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