To appreciate Willie Mays, the oldest living Hall of Famer at age 90, is to remember him at 20. When he joined the New York Giants in 1951, the game had never seen an athlete like him -- breathtakingly graceful, the greatest combination of power, speed and defense ever to wear a major league uniform. And 70 years later, to many, he remains precisely that.
"You'd sit on the bench and watch Willie Mays," Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said. "It was so exciting just to watch him. People did that with Jim Brown. They did that with the acrobatics and greatness of [Michael] Jordan. It's like players today going to watch the pregame warm-ups of Steph Curry. To watch Willie warm up, to throw the ball underhand, to make a basket catch. The beauty and the grace. For the kids today, it was like watching Simone Biles. It was like watching [Mikhail] Baryshnikov. It was poetry in motion. It was so beautiful, so pretty, to watch this athlete just run on the field, catch a ball. I loved to play against Willie Mays because it meant that I got to watch Willie Mays."
Mays is generally considered not only the greatest center fielder of all time, but after Babe Ruth, the greatest player of all time. I once asked Doug Rader, a five-time Gold Glove third baseman for the Astros from 1967 to 1977 and a later a big league manager, who was the best player he had ever seen. Rader laughed.
"Bill Mays, who else?" he said.
Hall of Famer Juan Marichal agreed.
"Willie was the best, No. 1 all time ... and I know," Marichal said. "I was there for a lot of Willie."
Who else? Willie Mays was that good.
"He was magical," Hall of Fame catcher Johnny Bench said. "He was perfect."
"Best player I've ever seen," said Tim McCarver, a former catcher who played in four decades and later became a Hall of Fame broadcaster. "He could do all the things that other guys couldn't."
"He was the first player to have genuine swag," Astros manager Dusty Baker said.
There were five-tool players before Mays, but all of Mays' tools were among the best in the game, like a lead singer who wrote the songs and could also play all the instruments better than anyone in the band. Mays' 12 Gold Gloves are the most ever by a player in the 500-home run club. When he retired in 1973, he was third all time in homers after averaging 33 a year.
Indeed, he could play the piano and move it, too.
"He has all the same traits as Mike Trout," Pete Rose said. "But [Trout] doesn't have Willie's flair."
It almost wasn't fair.
"Willie Mays was too good," former teammate Felipe Alou said.
| John Shea |
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HOME:
NFC West, Green Bay Packers, Minnesota Vikings, Houston Texans, Indianapolis Colts, Atlanta Falcons
AWAY:
NFC West, Chicago Bears, Detroit Lions, Jacksonville Jaguars, Tennessee Titans, Philadelphia Eagles, Cincinnati Bengals
| Keiana Martin |
| @KeianaMartinT |
We're exactly one week away until we find out the @49ers2021 schedule.Matchup you're looking forward to most is __________ ⬇️ 5/5/21, 10:48 AM
| Adam Schefter |
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Packers have begun exploring QBs they can add to their roster for OTAs and training camp, per sources. Jordan Love currently is the only other quarterback on the roster, but the team also faces uncertainty surrounding Aaron Rodgers. Packers’ QB search includes some veterans. 5/6/21, 4:16 AM | Adam Schefter |
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| NEWS: No. 1 game analyst Chris Webber may be out at TNT at end of year, The Post has learned. nypost.com/2021/ | |||||
| 5/5/21, 11:11 AM | |||||
Odds to Win the 2021 National League (Teams in red have longer odds, teams in blue have shorter odds, and teams in black stayed the same)
3/31/21 Current (5/4/2021)
Los Angeles Dodgers 9/5 9/5
San Diego Padres 5/1 19/4
Milwaukee Brewers 22/1 8/1
Atlanta Braves 6/1 19/2
Philadelphia Phillies 25/1 25/1
San Francisco Giants 50/1 28/1
Washington Nationals 18/1 38/1
Chicago Cubs 28/1 40/1
Miami Marlins 50/1 50/1
Arizona Diamondbacks 66/1 80/1
Colorado Rockies 100/1 200/1
Pittsburgh Pirates 125/1 200/1
Odds to Win NL West (Teams in red have longer odds, teams in blue have shorter odds, and teams in black stayed the same)
3/31/21 Current (5/4/2021)
Los Angeles Dodgers 2/5 4/15
San Diego Padres 2/1 13/4
San Francisco Giants 50/1 14/1
Arizona Diamondbacks 33/1 66/1
Odds to win the 2021 World Series (Teams in red have longer odds, teams in blue have shorter odds, and teams in black stayed the same)
3/31/21 Current (5/4/2021)
Los Angeles Dodgers 3/1 17/5
New York Yankees 11/2 7/1
San Diego Padres 9/1 8/1
Milwaukee Brewers 40/1 16/1
Boston Red Sox 50/1 18/1
Oakland Athletics 33/1 18/1
Los Angeles Angels 33/1 33/1
Minnesota Twins 20/1 35/1
Tampa Bay Rays 33/1 35/1
Cincinnati Reds 40/1 50/1
Kansas City Royals 125/1 50/1
Philadelphia Phillies 40/1 50/1
San Francisco Giants 100/1 50/1
49ERS:
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