A Grip on Sports: So long Willie. Your smile and the way you played the game will be with us always
A GRIP ON SPORTS • Baseball is a game of generations. Each has their stars, usually players they watched in their prime. And, yet, there are some players who transcend the barriers of time and memory. Players like Willie Mays.
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• Mays died Tuesday. He was 93 years old. But his age was only a number, one in a series of them that did not define how well he lived – or played.
From almost the first moments Mays stepped on a baseball field, whether it was in his hometown of Birmingham, Ala., or in New York, the center of the baseball universe in the early 1950s, he was hard to define.
Numbers never did him justice. Not numbers of World Series titles, nor home runs nor stolen bases. His numbers, starting with the 24 he wore on his back, were all memorable, as he redefined what a centerfielder could do. And more.
No one who has ever followed the game, even peripherally, hasn’t been awed by “The Catch,” Mays’ signature moment in a career full of them. The first game of the 1954 World Series. The Polo Grounds, the Grand Canyon of baseball parks. The Giants trying to win their second title since Mays joined them in the magical year of 1951 and the “Shot Heard Round the World,” which he viewed from the on-deck circle.
Mays, sprinting away from home plate, chasing down Vic Wertz’s flyball that held the promise of defining the Series. Running a marathon across the Polo Ground’s spacious grass, snagging the ball over his shoulder, planting, spinning, his cap flying off, heaving a strike back to the infield to keep the Cleveland runners at bay.
But even the most iconic defensive play of a generation never totally defined Mays. Neither did his 660 career home runs. Nor his 339 stolen bases, his 3,283 hits, his 1,909 runs batted in, his two MVP awards, his 24 All-Star games, his 12 consecutive Golden Gloves.
A collection of feats never matched, rarely challenged. And, still, not defining.
So, what did define Mays, not just the best player of his generation but arguably the best of all time?
His joie de vivre. His sheer rapture playing the game. His smile. Yes, he was among the pantheon of the greats in every statistical measure. And beyond them in that hard-to-quantify category of showmanship, of exuding a love of playing.
When he walked into a clubhouse, whether he was 24 years old or 34 or 84, he brought a light that was not to be extinguished. Not to be imitated.
He was, and will always be, “The Say Hey Kid,” the heart and soul of what is, after all, a game.
• Sadly, Mays was long past his peak when we became a baseball fan. Besides, he played for the archrival Giants, which was the kiss of hate for a boy who loved his Dodgers. And yet, when we sat down with our best baseball buddy to develop a one-on-one baseball game to play one summer, we named it after Mays. In Southern California. In 1967. Talk about blasphemy. But it wasn’t. Everyone loved Mays, even as you hated what he did to your team.
Our father, who always felt Joe DiMaggio was the greatest player he ever saw, was willing to admit Mays was superior as a hitter and a fielder – but wasn’t the best because he wasn’t Italian nor did he grow up in California. (If you ever needed a better illustration of the subjective nature of the word “best,” that’s it.)
Our son, who experienced the rise of Ken Griffey Jr. at the perfect age, always acknowledged Mays’ place in baseball’s hierarchy, mainly because Griffey did as well, from wearing Mays’ number to, early on, emulating his smile and joy.
We were caught in between. And caught without clear memories of Mays’ greatness, mainly because age and Candlestick’s challenges had robbed him of much of it by the time we could appreciate it.
Those childhood failings left us long ago, though. We understand the greatness of Griffey. DiMaggio. Mickey Mantle. Of ancients such as Tris Speaker and modern stars like Mike Trout. Their accomplishments all shine clear. And pale when compared to Mays, an incandescent light that shone brighter than any throughout the years. And across generations.
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WSU: We’re not sure we know exactly where Josh Hawkinson stands in the pantheon of Washington State basketball greats, but the Washington native is getting ready for the 2024 Olympics. Where he will represent his adopted country of Japan. Hawkinson has been a professional star in that country almost from the moment he left Pullman in 2017. And he helped earn the Olympic berth with an outstanding, double-double average (21 points, 10.8 rebounds per game) in World Cup play last year. … Elsewhere in the Pac-12 and the nation, Jon Wilner has a different reason why the Big 12 is chasing private equity money. A pretty compelling one. … Christian Caple answers questions about Washington prior to a vacation. … Yes, the Oregonian’s football numbers countdown continues, with No. 74 for Oregon and Oregon State. … There has been a bit of a kerfuffle concerning Colorado and a rap concert. Is there anything to it? … Arizona has attracted a large group of transfers. What do they bring the Wildcats? … Back to the Beavers, they once again could produce the No. 1 pick in the MLB draft. … Colorado men’s basketball continues to rely on homegrown talent. … The latest addition to Utah’s coaching staff has something to offer. … Oregon should have a decent track and field contingent at the Olympics.
Gonzaga: Ismaila Diagne is officially a GU student. And a member of the men’s basketball team. Jim Meehan has a story on the school’s announcement yesterday. And more. … We mentioned Japan’s Olympic team in the WSU section. Will Rui Hachimura play? No one knows for sure since he didn’t in last summer’s World Cup.
EWU: Former Eastern star Cooper Kupp is coming off two injury-addled seasons with the Rams. But he still feels he has something to contribute to the L.A. offense. … Elsewhere in the Big Sky, Leonard Perry, who once was Idaho’s head coach, is back in the Big Sky. Weber State hired him as an assistant. … Cal Poly has added two quarterbacks to its football roster. … Portland State has rebuilt its women’s basketball roster, including welcoming home an experienced local high school product.
Indians: It rained quite a bit in the Spokane area yesterday. We received at least two downpours that flooded parts of our yard, about five miles south of Avista Stadium. And yet the grounds crew was able to keep the field in playing shape. Too bad for Spokane, who dropped a 7-2 decision to Eugene. Dave Nichols waited out the delay to write this game story. … Elsewhere in the Northwest League, Vancouver swept a doubleheader from Tri-City 1-0 and 7-0. … Hillsboro dropped back into a second-place tie with Eugene by falling 6-0 at Everett.
Seahawks: We mentioned a new leader on the offensive line yesterday. We link the Times story again today as it showed up on the S-R’s website.
Mariners: As Bryce Miller struggled in the sixth inning, our eldest son chastised for our negativity as we expressed our disappointment with his inability to hold the Guardians at bay. Then said: “They’ve blown bigger leads in Cleveland.” Yes, we know. And we were afraid the M’s, who are 13 games over .500 after the 8-5 victory, have their biggest American League West lead (10 games) since 2001. You know, the year they blew a 12-run lead in the city. The 15-14 loss Aug. 5 of that year turned out to be the difference between the M’s holding the all-time record for wins in a season alone or sharing it. … Ty France returned from the injured list. But the M’s decided to keep Tyler Locklear, who has been playing first base, and DFA backup catcher Seby Zavala… MLB is going to blow it concerning the right way to institute video umpiring, isn’t it? … We were blown away by the number of columns and obituaries and plain old appreciations concerning Willie Mays we found today. We had to link many of them. Not all, but many. Hope you have some time today to read through them. We got up early just so we could.
Kraken: Well, that was fun. Edmonton built a three-goal lead in Florida. Almost gave it all back. But Connor McDavid seemingly willed the Oilers to a 5-3 victory and a return trip to Canada for Game Six on Friday night. … Seattle will enter the offseason with a lot of cap space.
Sonics: The Celtics are champions. They seem built to keep winning more titles. But then again, we felt that way about Denver and Milwaukee and the Raptors recently.
Storm: Playing time isn’t the only way to determine a player’s worth.
Golf: As long as Tiger Woods wants to show up and play the PGA Tour’s signature events, he can. The Tour governing board decided to give him a lifetime exemption to all the big-money events.
Olympics: Wyndham Clark, who played his college golf at Oregon, made the U.S. team. The other members? Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa. … The swimming trials are still in the process of picking the U.S. squad.
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• In the past few weeks our age has been showing. Mainly because we’ve entered the time period when our once youthful heroes have begun to pass away in alarming numbers. Bill Walton. Jerry West. Now Mays. We can remember years ago sitting with our father when he and a couple like-aged visitors lamented the recent passing of a few of their baseball heroes – and spent the afternoon flipping through a Baseball Encyclopedia arguing their relative merits. In the modern world, we do such things on the Interweb. Until later …