During the 1950s the game of baseball seemed to be dominated by the Yankees, who could do no wrong.  From 1949 to 1958, except for one year, the Yankees consistently kept the American League pennant.  It seemed the whole world’s attention was centered on New York.  However, there was one player who made sure all the attention didn’t go just to the Yankees.  Willie Mays, the Say Hey Kid, showed the world there was action going at the Polo Grounds too.
 

When Willie Mays started his professional career, he instantly won the love and respect of the fans.  Leo Durocher first saw Mays play in 1951, when Mays was playing for the Minneapolis Millers.  Mays had been spotted by scouts the year before and was purchased from the Birmingham Black Barons.  Mays played the 1950 season with Trenton in the International League, where he achieved a .353 average but only managed to swat four home runs.  Still the Giants thought him hot enough to send to Minneapolis for the 1951 season.  Durocher spotted Mays in Melbourne, Florida, during spring training.  It was love at first sight, and Leo was ready to pull Mays into the majors.  Rosie Ryan, manager for the Millers, cried in protest, and so Leo allowed Mays to play 35 games for the Millers. During those 35 games, Willie popped eight homers and averaged .477 at bat!  President Stoneham called Mays back to New York, and the fans in

Whatever happened to Good Old Time Baseball anyway?  I think it went out with the Designated Hitter.

Minneapolis screamed in outrage.  Stoneham was forced to take out large ads in the Minneapolis papers to explain why he had recalled Mays, although the statistics spoke for themselves.

Willie’s average with the Giants that year wasn’t as spectacular, only .274, but he did manage 20 homers!  His fielding in particular sent the fans cheering, as Willie dashed off after flies, his hat continually falling off.  In one spectacular play he caught his had with one hand and snagged the ball with his other.

In May, 1952, Willie went into the army, and the bottom dropped out for the Giants.  The pennant winning team of 1951 fell apart, and Dodger manager Charley Dressen proclaimed loudly, “The Giants is dead!”

In 1954, Willie returned to the Giants for his first uninterrupted season.  The zip and spunk in Willie inspired the team.  It seemed he could do no wrong.  He gained 41 home runs, led the majors in batting with a .345 average, led both leagues in slugging with a spectacular .667 percentage, and drove in 110.  The Giants won the pennant and then swept the Cleveland Indians in four straight games to clinch the World Series.  Mays was voted the Most Valuable Player.

Obviously, Dressen was wrong.  The Giants were anything but dead in 1954.  The catch Willie made on Vic Wertz in the first game of the World Series not only won the game but spurred his team on to quick victory.

In the eight inning the Indians were tied 2-2 with the Giants.  Cleveland had two men on base and none out.  Vic Wertz had tripled home two runs in the first inning, and now he was at bat again.  Leo Durocher had replaced Sal Maglie with southpaw Don Liddle, matching lefty against lefty.  Don lobbed ball one, passed a strike, and got a foul off Wertz for a count of 1-2.  The next pitch was perfect for Wertz who put plenty of wood into a high flying ball aimed towards the bleachers right of center.

Willie took one look at the ball, turned his back and started running.  Only when he was within a few feet of the barrier did he look back with a glance, snagged the ball over his left shoulder, and quickly whirled and fired the ball back to the infield.  That was it for Wertz and the Indians.

Joe DiMaggio saw Mays make the catch and commented: “As remarkable as the ground Willie had to cover the make the catch – and he just did get to the ball – was the judgement he showed in not letting the fence scare him.  There is no trick to catching a ball in the open field, no matter how far it is hit, as long as it stays in the air long enough.  The test of an outfielder’s skill comes when he has to go up against the fence to make a catch.”
Willie’s spectacular catch was chosen by The Sporting News and a majority of sports writers as the most exciting play of 1954 in all sports!  In his first years back in the majors, Mays began his legend.

Mays has often been compared with Mickey Mantle as the greatest baseball player in the second half of this century.  Mantle won MVP three times, Willie twice.  Each has won a batting title once, and each has lead the league in homers four times.  Mantle with the Yankees has played for 12 pennant winners, while Mays has only played for three.  Mantle has all sorts of records for the World Series, which Willie doesn’t.  But Mays was the all star of the All Star games, while Mantle has not done well in them.  Mays led in home runs, but not by much.  Only in defensive playing does Mays stand far out ahead, putting out nearly a thousand more players than Mantle!  If Mantle had not been plagued with his illnesses, he might have outshone Willie in everything.  As the records stand now, both men will certainly be listed among the top players of the century.

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