HAPPY BIRTHDAY Willie Mays!

[DWB1960]

Turned 80 today. One of the all time greats.

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[mge80]

Say hey!!

[fenderball]

that is correct! we celebrate it every year! my wife and i were joking about it last night...she said it's the only sports guy's birthday she knows...my boyhood sports hero! happy birthday say hey kid!!

[guitarist58]

Happy B-Day Willie Mays! :beer

[Cornbread]

say !!

[DWB1960]

1. Mays played in 24 ballparks. But today in only three of them can you still watch major leaguers play on the same field Mays did: Wrigley Field, Dodger Stadium and Fenway Park (Mays played in an All-Star Game there in 1961).


2. Only four players ever hit 20 doubles, 20 triples and 20 homers and stole 20 bases in the same season. Mays (1957) was the only player to do it in a 96-year span in between Frank Schulte (1911) and Jimmy Rollins and Curtis Granderson (2007).


3. Mays played 22 seasons and hit 22 extra-inning home runs, a record.


4. Mays was in centerfield for all but 12 of his 2,753 starts in the outfield. Three men can claim to have started in centerfield with Mays in a corner outfield spot: Matty Alou, Ken Henderson and Bobby Bonds.


5. Ten players reached base more times than Mays -- but only one of them exceeded Mays' rate of scoring 43.03 percent of the time he reached base: Babe Ruth (43.07).


6. Mays played shortstop twice in the big leagues, both times moving from centerfield after his manager, Alvin Dark, pinch-hit for the Giants shortstop late in games. Mays had no chances in four total innings.


7. Mays hit home runs out of all nine spots in the lineup and every inning from one through 16, a record.


8. Mays recorded his first hit in 1951 off Hall of Famer Warren Spahn -- the first of 253 times he batted against Spahn.


9. Mays also recorded his last hit off a Hall of Famer, Rollie Fingers, in Game 2 the 1973 World Series.

[chrisr777]

As boy in the Bay Area I thought Mays could do no wrong.

He was my hero even when I moved to L.A. which wasn't exactly popular.

[Trandy]

Maybe the best ever.

Happy Birthday to the "Say Hey" Kid.

[Tbone135]

I still have my cap signed by him; I'll never forget that day.

[hank]

One of the heros of my youth. Say Hey Willie!

[captain_bob]

In my baseball autograph collection his is my favorite. Hard to believe he's 80.

[Sidney Vicious]

Thanks for the original post - and for the stat followup, Donnie B. - what a great player.

[frickengruvin]

Happy Birthday Willie! Still my idol, and in my opinion the greatest all around player of all time....
Another couple facts...He was on deck when Bobby Thompson hit "The Shot Heard Round The World" in 1951.
Willies spent two years in the military. In my opinion, he would have eclipsed the Babe's home run title had he played those years...1952 and 1953.
"The Catch" that is shown in the YouTube clip above, culminated in Mays throwing the ball, on the fly, to home plate....Can you imagine that? Nearly 400 feet on the fly???:bow:bow:bow

[spectreman]

Even though I never saw him play (I'm 35) he was my favorite player growing up, just from watching the highlight reels and seeing interviews with him.

Happy Birthday Say Hey Kid!

[fenderball]

willie actually played 34 games in '52 before entering the military and missed all of '53...

i agree, he would have eclipsed the Babe, and been the first to do so, had he not missed that time...what a player!!!!

i still have my 24x36 poster in my excercise room up on the wall..this poster was over my bed when i was a kid!

http://i673.photobucket.com/albums/vv95/fenderball1/DSCN0601.jpg



Happy Birthday Willie! Still my idol, and in my opinion the greatest all around player of all time....
Another couple facts...He was on deck when Bobby Thompson hit "The Shot Heard Round The World" in 1951.
Willies spent two years in the military. In my opinion, he would have eclipsed the Babe's home run title had he played those years...1952 and 1953.
"The Catch" that is shown in the YouTube clip above, culminated in Mays throwing the ball, on the fly, to home plate....Can you imagine that? Nearly 400 feet on the fly???:bow:bow:bow

[tjs]

Willies spent two years in the military. In my opinion, he would have eclipsed the Babe's home run title had he played those years...1952 and 1953.

On the other hand Ruth played during a time home runs actually had to land in fair territory and not just cross the fence while fair, and game-winning home runs only counted for as many bases as was required to force in the winning run (in other words, not as home runs). One baseball historian estimates that Ruth lost about 78 home runs over the course of his career to these rules. And that doesn't even take into account the enormous stadiums he often played in.

That doesn't take anything away from Mays, of course, who is still one of the all-time greats. But Ruth is and always will be the true home run king.

[Mac Daddy 355]

Willie's my all time favorite Baseball player
Happy Birthday to the greatest all around player of all time ! yeah

[DC1]

The man was an artist.


Happy Birthday!



dc