That day, he hit his 48th and 49th of the season to finish ahead of Harmon Killebrew for most in the majors. The Braves' Warren Spahn surrendered Willie Mays' first home run — and 17 others, including a 16th-inning solo shot on July 2, , in the epic Juan Marichal-Spahn duel, a decision.
Mays teed off on different pitchers. Mays homered in 22 different ballparks. Of course, tops was Candlestick Park, his home for 14 seasons. Mays hit home runs in a Giants uniform, and of those came in his San Francisco years.
If the Braves had signed him they would have had Mays, Aaron , Mathews and Spahn on the team from through We might have gotten rid of Willie forever if I'd only struck him out. An iconic moment in World Series history where Mays made an over-the-shoulder running grab in deep center of the Polo Grounds of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth inning of Game 1.
Twenty-seven years later the mark was finally tied, but not beaten. Do you remember who that slugger was? New York Daily News columnist Dick Young wrote about the 23 votes who chose not to enshrine Mays, "If Jesus Christ were to show up with his old baseball glove, some guys wouldn't vote for him. He dropped the cross three times, didn't he? In August , during the 50th anniversary of the Gold Glove Awards, the best defensive players in baseball history were announced and the Say Hey Kid won the highest percentage of votes amongst every outfielder!
The highest civilian award in the United States had previously been bestowed to only eleven big league ballplayers! Mays kept the trend going with a three-run bomb off reliever Seth Morehead before adding a two-run shot off another All-Star pitcher, Don McMahon, in the eighth.
Mays is the only member of the home run club with a four-homer game. Mays was the model of consistency from , stringing together a season run of pure excellence. He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award twice during that stretch -- first in and again in '65 -- but he was a yearly contender for the honor.
In fact, he received a share of MVP votes each season from and he finished in the top 6 in 12 of those 13 years -- and in the top 3 six times. It's no surprise that Mays received annual MVP consideration during that run, recording at least 70 extra-base hits in 13 straight seasons from No other player has 13 such seasons, consecutive or otherwise, in Major League history. Mays accounted for at least 7.
Lou Gehrig is the only other player to post at least 7. Overall, Mays racked up Hank Aaron was second with Sign up to receive our daily Morning Lineup to stay in the know about the latest trending topics around Major League Baseball.
Amazingly, Mays went on that season tear immediately after missing nearly two full seasons while serving his country. He played in only 34 games in , then missed the entire '53 season after being drafted into the Army. Mays clearly didn't miss a beat upon returning in '54, leading the Majors with a. Despite missing what would have been his age season entirely and playing only 34 games in his age campaign, Mays ultimately finished his career with home runs -- good for sixth on the all-time list.
Still, it's hard not to wonder what he might have done with an extra 1, plate appearances in the early days of his career. The caveat to that number is that it includes four seasons in which there were two All-Star Games. Still, Mays started 14 straight All-Star contests from including both games in each season from He had at least one hit in 15 All-Star Games. Only five other players have even logged a plate appearance in that many Midsummer Classics. Needless to say, Mays' 23 overall hits are the most in All-Star Game history.
0コメント