The Tribune | Weekend | 13
Friday, August 27, 2021
“And my father didn’t have money for me to go to college. And at that particular time they didn’t have Black quarterbacks, and I don’t think I could have made it in basketball, because I was only five foot-eleven inches. So I just picked baseball.” - Willie Mays batting .353. Promoted to the Class AAA Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in 1951, he batted .477 in 35 games. Mays was called up to the New York Giants on May 24, 1951. May initially was reluctant to accept the offer, being scared to face major league pitchers. However, Leo Durocher, the New York manager, called Mays directly and said: “Quit costing the ball club money with long-distance phone calls and join the team.” Mays appeared in his first major league game on May 25, 1951, against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park, batting third. He had no hits in his first 12 times at bat, but in his 13th, he hit a home run over the left field roof of the Polo Grounds off Warren Spahn. Again, he was hitless in his next 12 times at bat, and Leo Durocher dropped him down to eighth in the batting order, telling Mays to stop trying to pull the ball and just make contact. Mays took the advice and made four hits on June 2 and June 3. By the end of the month his batting average was .300. He would bat close to .290 for the remainder of the season. Although his .274 average, 68 RBI and 20 home runs (in 121 games) would be the lowest totals in his career, he still won the National League Rookie of the Year Award. On August 11, 1951, the NY Giants were 13 and a half games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers, but the Giants went 40 - 18 in the season’s final 58 games and won their last seven games tied with the Dodgers. During the pennant race Mays was a huge contributor to several Giant victories. On October 3, Mays was in the on-deck circle when Bobby Thomson hit the shot that won the three-game National League tie-breaker series 2 – 1. The NY Giants met the New York Yankees in the 1951 World Series. Joe DiMaggio, May’s boyhood hero, was playing for the Yankees. The NY Giants lost in six games. Mays, disappointingly, hit poorly, with the losing 4 – 2. Mays was drafted to the United States Army to serve in the Korean War after the 1951 season ended. But he was able to start the 1952 season with the Giants, batting .236 with four home runs in thirty-four games. He reported on May 29, 1952, to Fort Eustis where he spent most of his time playing in military baseball teams with other major leaguers. He missed 206 games due to military service. Discharged on March 1, 1954, he reported to Giants’ spring training the following day. Mays began the 1954 season with a 414 feet home run against Carl Erskine on Opening Day. When he batted .250 in his first 20 games, Leo Durocher moved him down from third to fifth in the batting order andtold him again to stop trying to pull the ball and get hits instead to right field. Mays then stood straighter at the plate and kept his feet closer to each
MAYS and manager Leo Durocher of the 1954 World Champion New York Giants pose with Durocher’s wife, actress Laraine Day, for the cover of Sports Illustrated. other. This almost immediately improved his batting average. He batted .450 with 25 RBI in his next 20 games. On June 25, Mays hit a home run in a 6 – 2 victory over the Chicago Cubs. He was selected to the National League All-Star team andwould be part of twenty-four straight National League All-Star teams over 20 seasons. He had 38 home runs by July 28, but then Durocher, the coach, told Mays to stop hitting them, explaining that the team wanted him to get on base more. May only hit five more home runs after 8 July, but increased his batting average from .326 to .345, helping to win the Giants first batting title since 1930. Mays, with his 41 home runs, won the National League Most Valuable Player Award and the Hickok Belt. The NY Giants won the National League Pennant and the 1954 World Series, beating the Cleveland Indians in four straight games. One of the most memorable incidents in the 1954 World Series is an over-the-shoulder catch by Willie Mays. “The Catch”, a running catch by Mays – an estimated 455 feet from home plate at the Polo Grounds – off a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz during the eighth innings of the first game, prevented two Cleveland Indian runners from scoring, preserving a tied game. The catch is regarded as the greatest catch of all baseball history. Mays did not even look at the ball for the last 20 feet as he ran, saying later that he was still going to be running if he was to get to where the ball was headed. He grabbed it out of the air over his left shoulder – an almost impossible feat. The Giants won the game in the tenth inning on a three-run home run by Dusty Rhodes, with Mays scoring the winning run. Willie Mays added base stealing to his talents in the 1955 season, upping his total from eight to twenty-four. In May, Durocher asked Mays to go for more home runs, and he led the league with 51. He led the league with a .659 slugging percentage,
and batted .319 as the N.Y. Giants finished third. During the final game of the 1955 season, Durocher informed Mays that he would not be returning as the Giants manager. Shocked by the news Mays replied, “But Mr Leo, it’s going to be different with you gone. You won’t be there to help me.” Durocher replied: “Willie Mays doesn’t need help from anyone.” Mays struggled in 1956 with the new Giants manager Bill Rigney, who criticised Mays publicly. It wasn’t easy for Mays who hit 36 home runs and stole 40 bases. His batting average of .296 was his lowest total of a decade. The Mays/Rigney relationship improved in 1957. Rigney stopped giving Mays as much direction, and the player’s confidence resumed. On April 21, 1957, against the Philadelphia Phillies, May reached second base on an error, stole third, and scored the winning run on a Hank Sauer single. He stole home in a 4 – 3 loss to the Chicago Cubs on May 21, 1957, the first season that Golden Gloves were presented, and Mays won the first of 12 consecutive Golden Gloves for his play in centre field. Mays topped three categories in the National League in 1957: runs scored; batting average; and home runs. He also stole thirty-eight bases that year. Manager Rigney urged Mays to challenge Babe Ruth’s record of 60 home runs in a season. As he had in 1954, Mays vied for the National League batting title – but finished with .347 as against Philadelphia’s Richie Ashburn who batted .350. He did, however, win the League Player of the Month award with Stan Musial in May, batting .350; and won a second such award in September, batting .434. He played all but two games for the Giants but hit only 29 home runs. Horace Stoneham (1903-1990), the owner of the New York/San Francisco Giants from 1936 to 1976, made Mays the highest paid player in baseball with a $75,000 contract for 1959. He continued to be the highest paid player right until the 1972 season, with the exception of 1962 when he was paid $90,000 – the same as Mickey Mantle, and in 1966 when Sandy Koufax was paid more. The Giants ended in a disappointing third place in 1959, losing to the Los Angeles Dodgers. Mays was booed by the San Francisco Giants fans. After two years in Seals Stadium in San Francisco, the Giants moved to Candlestick Park in 1960. Tricky winds in the Park affected Mays’ power hitting and he hit only 12 home runs. But he learned how to judge the winds. On September 15, he tied a National League record with three triples in an eleven innings 8 – 6 win over the Philadelphia Phillies. But he hit only 29 home runs. Alvin Dark was hired to manage the Giants before the start of the 1961 season, and the improving Giants finished the season in third place. Mays had one of his best games on April 30, hitting four home runs and driving in eight runs against the Milwaukee Braves. Mays finished the season with 40 home runs and led the league with 129 runs scored and batted .308. However, the San Francisco fans expected more, and they continued to boo him during his first four seasons in California. Eventually these boos subsided after Mays’ four home runs game in 1961, and in 1962 when the Giants enjoyed their best season since moving to San Francisco in 1958. • Sir Christopher Ondaatje is the author of The Last Colonial. Hr acknowledges that he has quoted liberally from Wikipedia; Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend (2010) by James S. Hirsch; and 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid (2020) by Willie Mays (with John Shea).
