Willie Mays

On October 3, 1951 (I was six years-old), the New York Giants and the Brooklyn Dodgers were playing the third and final playoff game for the National League baseball championship at the Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan.  The Dodgers were leading 4-2 in the bottom of the ninth inning, but the Giants had runners at second and third with only one out.

Up to bat came Bobby Thomson.  On deck was Willie Mays, the twenty year-old rookie sensation from Alabama.  As the Giants were the favorite team of my thirteen year-old older brother Paul, they became my favorite, too.  Because of his growing reputation as a ballplayer, Mays became the hero of my youth.

Mays never had to come to bat because Thomson became the hero of the day (and for many days thereafter) when he hit a dramatic three-run home run to win the game and the championship.  Unfortunately, the Giants lost the 1951 World Series to the New York Yankees.

Early the next season, Mays was drafted into the United States Army.  He did not return to pro baseball until the 1954 season, when he led the Giants to another National League championship and another trip to the World Series, this time against the Cleveland Indians.

In the top of the eighth inning of the first game at the Polo Grounds, the score was tied 2-2.  The Indians had runners on first and second with no outs when the dangerous Vic Wertz came to bat.

Wertz hit a long fly ball to the deepest part of center field.  Mays running full speed caught the ball over his shoulder and threw the ball back to the infield to prevent any runs from scoring.

It was September 29, 1954 and I was home from school because of the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah.  I watched the whole game by myself on our new black and white TV.

In the bottom of the tenth inning with the score still tied, Mays drew a walk and immediately stole second base.  The next batter was intentionally walked and pinch hitter Dusty Rhodes came to the plate.  He hit a three run home run to win the game.  The Giants swept the Indians, 4 games to none to win the World Series, the only one Mays would win.

In 1958, Willie Mays and the Giants moved to San Francisco.  As I lived in Oswego, it didn't affect me.  I stayed his and their number one fan.

In 1962, the Giants were again playing the Yankees in the World Series.  In the seventh and deciding game at Candlestick Park in San Francisco, the Yankees were leading 1-0.  

In the bottom of the ninth inning, the Giants had a runner on first base with two outs.  I again was watching the game on TV as I had rushed home from high school, arriving during the fifth inning.

The last chance for the Giants rested on the shoulders of Willie Mays.  I knew in my gut he would not make the final out.  I was right as he hit a double to right field sending the tying run to third base.  Unfortunately, the next batter hit a line drive to the second baseman to end the game and the World Series.

As I went to college in Philadelphia during the mid-1960s, I benefitted from having the Giants visit the city several times during the baseball season.  What a thrill it was for me to see Willie Mays in person.  Another time, I saw him hit one of his 660 career home runs over the roof in old Connie Mack Stadium.

On May 11, 1972, Mays was traded to the New York Mets for whom he played until his retirement at the end of the 1973 season at age forty-two.  I remember watching on a color TV his last base hit driving in the winning run in game two of the 1973 World Series against the Oakland A's.

During this period with the Mets, I had to decide whether I was a Giant fan or a Willie Mays fan.  I knew I was a Willie Mays fan.  After his retirement, I returned to the Giants.

This past Thursday, the Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals played a game at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama where Willie Mays started his professional baseball career in 1948 with the Black Barons.  The Giants lost. 6-5.

Sadly, Willie Mays died this past Tuesday, June 18, at 93 years of age.  He will be missed, but never forgotten.