Willie Mays died recently at the age of 93. The “Say Hey Kid” embodied a spirit that has been missing from Major League Baseball for far too long. He enjoyed the game and made it look simple. He could do it all, hit, run, hit for power, field and throw with the best of them. As a friend of mine stated, a five tool player before anyone knew what that meant (Thanks Rod Clouse). Mays was probably the guy, along with Mantle before he was hurt, that became that prototype five tool player that all teams were looking to find. Mays had a great personality and was seemingly loved by everyone, except opposing pitchers. He used to play stickball in the street with the neighborhood children and became a media star in the media capital of the world before the New York Giants moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season.
The 20 year old Mays broke in with the New York Giants in 1951 and won Rookie of the Year. He served in the military and missed most of his second season, (he appeared in 34 games), and missed his entire third season. That’s two prime years missed. When he returned at age 23 in 1954 he was the National League MVP leading the Giants to a World Series sweep over the Cleveland Indians, a team that won 111 games that year. That series also featured one of the greatest catches in baseball history by Mays. Simply called “The Catch” everyone who knows the history of baseball knows that extraordinary play.
Mays would win another MVP award in 1965 while slugging 52 home runs. He also had a couple runner up MVP seasons (1958, 1962) and finished in the top 5 MVP voting 9 times in his career. He was 6th in MVP voting 3 times as well. So, in 12 of his 23 seasons he finished in the top 6 of MVP voting. Mays played in 24 All-Star games, (in the years 1959-1962 they played two All-Star games per season), and won the game’s MVP award in 1963 and 1968. Mays also won 12 Gold Gloves. Mays became the ninth player to hit 4 home runs in a single game in 1961. Mays ended his career with 660 career homers and most likely would have broken Babe Ruth’s record before Hank Aaron had he not missed those 2 seasons due to military service. Although, Ted Williams probably would have been the first to break Babe Ruth’s Home Run record had he not missed FIVE seasons while serving in World War II and the Korean War. Mays also had a career batting average of .301, knocked in 1,909 runs, and stole 339 career bases. I’d be happy to start my team with Willie Mays any day.
I’ve often thought about who were the greatest Major League Baseball players of all-time, but never formerly made a list. I always knew Willie Mays would be on the short list though. Since his death, I’ve thought a lot more about it, and I’ve decided that Mays comes in at number two on my list. The top 5 were no-brainers to me, after that it gets more exhausting. The number 6 player eventually became a no-brainer as well. Not that my list means anything special, but I’ll name my top All-Time players anyway.
#1) Babe Ruth. Who else could it really be? A mythical figure larger than life who stated he had a better year when told he made more money than the President of the United States. Ruth could not only hit, he could pitch. Ruth won 80 career games by the time he turned 23. He won 94 total games before turning into a full time player and leaving the mound behind. Ruth threw 29 consecutive shutout innings during the 1916 and 1918 World Series. Once he focused solely on batting he became the most feared slugger in the game. In 1920 and 1927 Ruth out homered all other American League teams. Let’s see someone do that today. Ruth slugged 714 career homers, including an unprecedented 60 in 1927. He batted .346 for his career and batted in 2,214 runs. I just don’t see how anyone can ever knock Babe Ruth out of the number one slot.
#2) Willie Mays. If anyone could have knocked Ruth out of the number one slot it would have been Willie Mays. He’s number two for all the reasons listed above.
#3) Ted Williams. If Williams hadn’t missed 5 years while fighting in World War II and Korea he might well be number one on my list. Williams is the last batter to hit over .400 in a season when he hit .406 in 1941. Williams could have sat out the last three games of 1941 to preserve his .401 batting average but he was having none of that. On the second to last day of the season (the last day had the Red Sox playing a double header) Williams went 1-4 dropping his average to .3995. If he sat out the double header his average would have rounded up to .400, but again, Williams wasn’t going to sit any games out. Williams hadn’t had a multi-hit game in a week as play started on that last day of the season. Williams went 6-8 in the double header pushing his average to .406. A legendary performance. Williams won the triple crown in 1942 and 1947. He ended his career with 521 Home Runs, batted .344 and knocked in 1,839 runs. I give the edge to Mays over Williams because he was better defensively at a more demanding (center field) position and he was a superior base runner.
#4) Hank Aaron. I still call him the All-Time Home Run King as I don’t acknowledge the steroid abuser Barry Bonds as anything but a cheater. Sorry to have to taint this piece with his name. Hammerin’ Hank Aaron quietly went about his business year in and year out putting up consistent numbers and amassing career totals that rank him as one of the greatest Major League Baseball players of all-time. It’s really hard to rank these all-time greats because the gap between them is really small. Aaron had to face extreme racism in 1973 and 1974 as he pursued Babe Ruth’s all-time Home Run record. That had to put extra pressure on him as he ended the 1973 season just one home run short of Ruth’s mark. On April 8, 1974 Aaron hit number 715 off of Dodger’s pitcher Al Downing to break Ruth’s hallowed mark. Aaron had a career batting average of .305 and knocked in 2,297 runs which is a major league record. Like I said, I still call his 755 Home Runs the Major League record. Even if you say it isn’t, at least he owns the steroid free Major League homer record and that can’t be disputed. Aaron’s 6,856 Total Bases is also a Major League record. So why do I have Mays and Williams ahead of Aaron? Again, Mays was a superior fielder and a better base runner than Aaron. Williams was a much better overall hitter and those 5 years lost contributed to lower career totals. Aaron and Williams could easily be flip flopped and I’d have no problem with it. It’s that close between those two.
#5) Ty Cobb. Cobb’s legacy has been haunted by the lies of sportswriter Al Stump whose biography of Cobb has been largely discredited. The book, released after Cobb’s death, portrayed Cobb as a violent racist. Stump’s book has been proven to be sensationalized fiction. Now, Cobb wasn’t exactly a saint, and he was know for violent conflicts, but he spoke favorably about black players joining the Major Leagues and was a well-known philanthropist. If you want to read a book about Cobb, skip Stump’s book, (unless you like fiction), and read Charles Leerhsen’s book, Ty Cobb: A Terrible Beauty. Cobb played 24 seasons, all but two for the Detroit Tigers, and retired with an astounding .366 career batting average. That’s the greatest batting average in Major League Baseball history. Now, I realize MLB is now saying Josh Gibson owns the record, but Baseball Reference doesn’t acknowledge MLB’s ruling simply because Gibson doesn’t have enough At Bats or games played to supersede Cobb. I agree because Gibson’s 602 Games and 2,168 At Bats can’t even begin to compare to Cobb’s 3,034 Games and 11,440 At Bats. This is just another case of the people who rule MLB losing their minds along with any credibility they are scuffling to hold onto. Along with Cobb’s .366 batting average record he amassed 4,191 career hits which was the record until Pete Rose eclipsed it. Cobb hit 117 career home runs and knocked in 1,944 runs. He retired with a record of 897 stolen bases, until research revealed that Billy Hamilton had more steals under much different rules. From 1886 to 1897, stolen bases were awarded for any number of base running advances: Moving up on a throw to another base, moving up on an error – all this and more contributed to Hamilton’s total. I swear, you really need to research the history of Major League Baseball to put their record book in context. Anyway, Lou Brock would break both marks and then Rickey Henderson would rewrite the stolen base record book with an unbelievable 1,406 of them. Cobb won 12 batting titles from 1907 to 1919 missing out only in 1916 when his .370 batting average was only good enough for second behind Tris Speaker’s .386 average. Cobb won the triple crown in 1909. Cobb still holds the career record for stealing home (54 times) and for stealing second base, third base, and home in succession (4 times), and as the youngest player ever to compile 4,000 hits and score 2,000 runs. Cobb ranks fifth all time in number of games played, and committed 271 errors, the most by any American League (AL) outfielder. Cobb is probably the greatest hitter of all-time, he was a terror on the bases, but his lack of power (even though he never actually tried to hit for power and proved he could do so when challenged), and his less than stellar defense put him number 5 on my list.
Like I said, my top 5 players were no-brainers to me and I finally came up with number 6, which also seemed like a no-brainer to me. Lou Gehrig is number 6 on my list. From there it gets even tougher. I have a list of players that I would consider after number 6, but to be honest, I could be leaving some players off because I haven’t tried to uncover every stone yet. Also, as you’ve probably figured out by now there are no pitchers on this list because that would be a separate list for me. The next tier of players up for my consideration would be, in no particular order: Mantle, Frank Robinson, Musial, Schmidt, Hornsby, Lajoie, Speaker, Clemente, Banks, Kaline, Bench, and Rickey Henderson. As I stated earlier, I’m sure I’m leaving off a few guys who could be on this list. This is just off the top of my head.
One last thing, there have been five centerfielders who were first ballot Hall of Famers. Two of those five, Mays and Cobb, occupy my top five list. The other three, in order of their greatness, are Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr., and Kirby Puckett. For Mays to head even this list just shows how great of a player he truly was. R.I.P. Willie Mays. Major League Baseball will likely never see another player as great as you were.