STAN MUSIAL
Born: November 21, 1920 in Donora, Pennsylvania
Died: January 19, 2013 in Ladue, Missouri
Full name Stanley Frank Musial
Born November 21, 1920, Donora,
Pennsylvania
First Game: September 17, 1941; Final Game: September 29,
1963
Bat: Left Throw: Left Height: 6' 0" Weight: 175
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1969
Named NL Most Valuable Player by
Baseball Writers' Association of America (1943, 1946 and 1948)
Named NL Most
Valuable Player by The Sporting News (1943)
Named Major League Player of the
Year by The Sporting News (1946 and 1951)
Named NL Player of the Year by The
Sporting News (1948, 1951 and 1957)
Named first baseman on The Sporting News
Major League All-Star Team (1946 and 1957 to 1958)
Named
outfielder on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1943 to 1944 and
1948 to 1954)
STAN MUSIAL
This article was written by Jan Finkel and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
About twenty-five miles south and a bit east of
Pittsburgh, roughly along the Monongahela River (Western Pennsylvanians call it
the Mon and the Mon Valley), lies the town of Donora. Donora and the surrounding
communities used to be a fairly thriving multi-ethnic area comprised of
Italians, Eastern Europeans, and African-Americans that turned out steel, zinc,
and world-class athletes. The Depression and management chicanery took care of
the steel industry. A thermal inversion finished off zinc. Many of the young
people left before conceiving children, athletic or otherwise.
It was glorious while it lasted, though. Dan Towler went
to nearby Washington and Jefferson College and then to the old Los Angeles Rams,
where he once led the National Football League in rushing. Arnold Galiffa
quarterbacked Red Blaik's undefeated 1948 and 1949 teams at Army. Buddy Griffey
didn't make it to the top, but his son (Ken) and grandson (Ken Jr.) did rather
well. And Stan Musial stood out above them all.
According to writer James Giglio, Lukasz Musial, age 19, left "the [Polish]
village of Mojstava in the province of Galicia, at that time part of
Austria-Hungary" in January 1910. He sailed on the President Grant out of
Hamburg on January 24, landing at Ellis Island six days later. Claiming to be
5'7" and 150 pounds but deemed much smaller by people who knew him, Lukasz went
straight from New York to Donora, where he worked at a variety of unskilled
jobs. Among other things, he was what was called a "'machine helper'" and a
porter at the Public Hotel. Early on he met Mary Lancos, 14 years old and the
daughter of Czech immigrants (who had a Hungarian surname) from the
Austro-Hungarian Empire. One of ten children, Mary, born in New York, was close
to six feet tall, big-boned, and although untrained, probably athletic. Not
unusual for the time and place, she had become a housekeeper when she was
eight.
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Film Credits
2010-2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2009 Ted Williams (Other), 2009 2009 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2006 St. Louis Cardinals: Baseball Heaven (in person), 2006 DHL Presents Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes (Other), 2005-2006 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (Other), 2000-2001 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 2000 Michael Jordan to the Max (in person), 1991 When It Was a Game (Other), 1991 CBS This Morning (in person), 1985 Hee Haw (in person), 1975 The Way It Was (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 That Girl (in person), 1964 What's My Line (in person), 1963-1965 The Merv Griffin Show (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1958 1958 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1957 1957 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955 1955 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1954 1954 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1953 1953 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1952 1952 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1951 1951 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1950 1950 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1949-1958 The Ed Sullivan Show (in person), 1949 1949 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1947 Style of the Stars (in person)
LOU BROCK
Born: June 18, 1939 in El Dorado, Arkansas
Full name Louis Clark Brock
Born June 18, 1939, El Dorado,
Arkansas
First Game: September 10, 1961; Final Game: September 30,
1979
Bat: Left Throw: Left Height: 5' 11.5" Weight: 170
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1985
Named Major League Player of the Year
by The Sporting News (1974)
Named NL Player of the Year by The Sporting News
(1974)
Named NL Comeback Player of the Year by The Sporting News
(1979)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1974)
Film Credits
2010 Prime 9 (Other), 2009-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2008 2008 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2006 DHL Presents Major League Baseball Hometown Heroes (Other), 2004-2006 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2004 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 2003 Late Show with David Letterman (in person), 2002 The Tim McCarver Show (in person), 2002 A City on Fire: The Story of the '68 Detroit Tigers (in person), 1979 1979 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1976 Monday Night Baseball (in person), 1975 The Bob Hope Show (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1968-1969 The Joey Bishop Show (in person), 1968 1968 World Series (in person), 1967 The Ed Sullivan Show (in person), 1967 1967 World Series (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1964 1964 World Series (in person)
HANK AARON
Born: February 5, 1934 in Mobile, Alabama
Full name Henry Louis Aaron
Born February 5, 1934,
Mobile, Alabama
First Game: April 13, 1954;
Final Game: October 3,
1976
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 6' 0" Weight: 180
Brother of Tommie Aaron
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1982
Named NL Most
Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1957)
Named NL
Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1956 and 1963)
Named outfielder on
The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1956 and 1958 to 1959)
Named
outfielder on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1963, 1965, 1967 and 1969 to
1971)
Won NL Gold
Glove as right fielder (1958 to 1960)
HANK AARON
This article was written by Bill Johnson and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
"Henry Aaron in the second inning walked and scored.
He's sittin' on 714. Here's the pitch by Downing. Swinging. There's a drive into
left-center field! That ball is gonna be ... outta here! It's gone! It's 715!
There's a new home run champion of all time, and it's Henry Aaron!" - Milo
Hamilton, April 8, 1974
With that swing of the bat, along with the 714 that
preceded it, Hank Aaron not only passed Babe Ruth as Major League Baseball's
career home run leader, but he also made a giant leap in the integration of the
game and the nation. Aaron, an African-American, had broken a record set by the
immortal Ruth, and not just any record, but the all-time major league home run
record, and in doing so moved the game and the nation forward on the journey
started by Jackie Robinson in 1947. By 1974 Aaron's baseball career was within
three years of sunset, but the road he'd travelled to arrive at that spring
evening in Atlanta had hardened and tempered him, perhaps irrevocably, in ways
that only suffering can produce. Aaron finally shrugged off the twin
burdens of expectation and fear that evening, and few have ever stood
taller.
Henry Louis Aaron was born February 5, 1934, in Mobile Alabama, to Herbert
and Estella (Pritchett) Aaron. Among Henry's seven siblings was a brother,
Tommie, who later played in parts of seven different seasons in the major
leagues. For whatever such records are worth, the brothers still hold the record
for most career home runs by a pair of siblings, 768, with the elder Henry
contributing 755 to Tommie's 13. They were also the first siblings to appear in
a League Championship Series as teammates.
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Film Credits
2013 Conan (in person), 2011 Late Show with David Letterman (in person), 2010-2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2010 Stand Up to Cancer (in person), 2009 Prime 9 (in person), 2008 Bigger Stronger Faster* (Other), 2008 2008 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2007 Rome Is Burning (Other), 2006 ESPN Outside the Lines Nightly (Other), 2006 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2006 Costas Now (Other), 2005-2006 The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... (in person), 2003 Pete Rose on Trial (in person), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (in person), 2002 Jim Brown: All American (in person), 2002 Futurama (in person), 2002 2002 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2001 Summer Catch (in person), 2000-2004 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 2000 When It Was a Game 3 (in person), 2000 2000 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1999 ABC 2000: The Millennium (in person), 1997 Arli$$ (in person), 1995 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (in person), 1995 Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (Other), 1995 Hank Aaron: Chasing the Dream (Other), 1994 Baseball (Other), 1993 Late Night with Conan O'Brien (in person), 1992 When It Was a Game 2 (Other), 1992 The 50 Greatest Home Runs in Baseball History (Other), 1992 Clash of the Champions XX: 20th Anniversary (in person), 1991 When It Was a Game (Other), 1991 Baseball's Record Breakers (in person), 1991 Baseball's Greatest Moments (in person), 1991 1991 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1990 Night of 100 Stars III (in person), 1989 The Arsenio Hall Show (in person), 1989 Mr. Belvedere (in person), 1987 The Incredible Ida Early (in person), 1987 MacGyver (in person), 1986 Liberty Weekend (in person), 1983 1983 Cracker Jack Oldtimer's Baseball Classic (in person), 1982-1986 The Late Show with David Letterman (in person), 1980 Happy Days (in person), 1978 Good Morning America (in person), 1977 The Cry of a Hurting World... I'm Hungry! (in person), 1977 Jimmy Carter's Inaugural Gala (in person), 1975 Tony Orlando and Dawn (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1974 The Dean Martin Comedy Hour (in person), 1974 Dinah! (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1973 Flip (in person), 1973 1973 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 1972 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 1970 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1969 1969 National League Championship Series (in person), 1969 1969 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1968 1968 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1966 1966 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1965 1965 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1964 1964 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1960 Home Run Derby (in person), 1958 1958 World Series (in person), 1958 1958 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1957 The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (in person), 1957 Captain Kangaroo (in person), 1957 1957 World Series (in person), 1957 1957 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1956-1958 The Ed Sullivan Show (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955 1955 MLB All-Star Game (in person)
ROD CAREW
Born: October 1, 1945 in Gatun, Canal Zone, Panama
Full name Rodney Cline Carew
Born October 1, 1945,
Gatun, Canal Zone
First Game: April 11, 1967; Final Game: October 5,
1985
Bat: Left Throw: Right Height: 6' 0" Weight: 170
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1991
Named AL Most
Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1977)
Named
Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1977)
Named AL Player
of the Year by The Sporting News (1977)
Named AL Rookie of the Year by
Baseball Writers' Association of America (1967)
Named AL Rookie Player of the
Year by The Sporting News (1967)
Named first baseman on The Sporting News AL
All-Star Team (1977 to 1978)
Named second baseman on The Sporting News AL
All-Star Team (1967 to 1969 and 1972 to 1975)
Film Credits
2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2011 Mike & Mike (in person), 2010-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2010 2010 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2008 2008 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2006 ESPN Outside the Lines Nightly (Other), 2003 George Lopez (in person), 2000 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 1992-2000 Sunday Night Baseball (in person), 1991 Babe Ruth (Other), 1991 Babe Ruth (in person), 1991 1991 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1984 1984 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1983 1983 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1982 1982 American League Championship Series (in person), 1981 1981 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1980 1980 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1979 1979 American League Championship Series (in person), 1978 1978 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1977 1977 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1976 1976 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1973 1973 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 1972 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 1970 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 1970 American League Championship Series (in person), 1969 1969 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1969 1969 American League Championship Series (in person), 1968 1968 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person)
CARL YASTRZEMSKI
Born: August 22, 1939 in Southampton, New York
Full name Carl Michael Yastrzemski
Born August 22,
1939, Southampton, New York
First Game: April 11, 1961; Final Game: October
2, 1983
Bat: Left Throw: Right Height: 5' 11" Weight: 175
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1989
Named AL Most
Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1967)
Named
Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1967)
Named AL Player
of the Year by The Sporting News (1967)
Named All-Star Game Most Valuable
Player (1970)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News AL All-Star Team (1963,
1965 and 1967)
Won
AL Gold Glove as outfielder (1963, 1965, 1967 to 1969, 1971 and 1977)
CARL YASTRZEMSKI
This article was written by Herb Crehan and Bill Nowlin and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for
American Baseball Research
Saddled with the burden of replacing one of baseball's
legendary players, Carl Yastrzemski carved out his own iconic Hall of Fame
career, eventually escaping Ted Williams' extraordinary shadow enough to win 3
batting titles and 7 Gold Gloves, and earn 18 All-Star selections. In Boston,
where he played the entirety of his 23-year career, he is remembered especially
for his Triple Crown season that led Boston to its Impossible Dream in 1967.
Born August 22, 1939, in nearby Southampton, New York,
Carl Michael Yastrzemski came of age in Bridgehampton, Long Island (population
3,000) where he often played alongside his father in local semi-pro games.
Father Karol Yastrzemski (the name was Anglicized to Carl) and Yaz's uncle Tommy
owned an inherited 70-acre potato farm, their work a "legacy from Poland, folks
coming over here and doing what they knew from the old country." (1)
In his first of two autobiographies, Yaz wrote, "I'm
told that when I was 18 months old my dad got me a tiny baseball bat, which I
dragged around wherever I went, the way other babies drag blankets or favorite
toys. I vaguely remember playing catch with him as a very small boy, but my
first clear memory is hitting tennis balls in the back yard against his pitching
after supper every night when I was about six. Later we played make-believe ball
games between the Yankees and the Red Sox, my two favorite teams..."
(2)
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Film Credits
2010 Prime 9 (Other), 2009 The Lost Son of Havana (in person), 2005 Wait 'til This Year (in person), 2005 History Rings True: Red Sox Opening Day Ring Ceremony (in person), 2005 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2004 Reverse of the Curse of the Bambino (Other), 2001 Boston Red Sox: 100 Years of Baseball History (in person), 2000 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 1992 The 50 Greatest Home Runs in Baseball History (Other), 1991 The Story of America's Classic Ballparks (in person), 1989 1989 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1983 1983 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1982 1982 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1979 1979 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1978 Monday Night Baseball (in person), 1977 1977 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1976 1976 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1975 1975 World Series (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1975 1975 American League Championship Series (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1973 1973 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 1972 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 1970 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1969 1969 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1968 The Kraft Music Hall (in person), 1968 1968 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1967 The Ed Sullivan Show (in person), 1967 1967 World Series (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person)
PETE ROSE
Born: April 14, 1941 in Cincinnati, Ohio
Baseball Career:
First Game: April 8, 1963; Final Game:
August 17, 1986
Managed First Game: August 17, 1984; Managed Final Game:
August 21, 1989
Bat: Both Throw: Right Height: 5' 11" Weight: 192
Awards and Achievements:
Named NL Most Valuable Player
by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1973)
Named NL Player of the
Year by The Sporting News (1968)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by Baseball
Writers' Association of America (1963)
Named NL Rookie Player of the Year by
The Sporting News (1963)
Named World Series Most Valuable Player (1975)
Named first baseman on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1981)
Named
second baseman on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1965 to 1966)
Named
third baseman on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1978)
Named outfielder
on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1968 and 1973)
Won NL Gold Glove as
outfielder (1969 to 1970)
Named first baseman on The Sporting News NL Silver
Slugger Team (1981)
Film Credits
2013 The Jeff Probst Show (in person), 2013 Mike & Mike (Other), 2013 Larry King Now (in person), 2012 Legends: Oakland A's, the Forgotten Dynasty (in person), 2012 30 for 30 Shorts (in person), 2010 WWF Raw (in person), 2010 WWE: Bobby 'The Brain' Heenan (Other), 2010 Prime 9 (Other), 2010 4192: The Crowning of the Hit King (in person), 2009-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2008 WWE: The Twisted, Disturbed Life of Kane (Other), 2008 Cubs Forever: Celebrating 60 Years of WGN-TV and the Chicago Cubs (Other), 2007 Sports Unfiltered with Dennis Miller (in person), 2007 Jocking Around (in person), 2007 Hitting from the Heart (Other), 2006 The Big Idea with Donny Deutsch (in person), 2006 Real Time with Bill Maher (in person), 2006 Quite Frankly with Stephen A. Smith (in person), 2006 Late Show with David Letterman (in person), 2006 Jimmy Kimmel Live! (in person), 2005 The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... (in person), 2005 The Best Damn Sports Show Period (in person), 2005 Costas Now (in person), 2004-2007 The Tonight Show with Jay Leno (in person), 2004-2006 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2004 WWE Hall of Fame 2004 (in person), 2004 WrestleMania XX (in person), 2003 Pete Rose Playing to Win (Performer), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (in person), 2001 Viva Cepeda! (in person), 2000 WrestleMania 2000 (in person), 2000 The Howard Stern Radio Show (in person), 2000 Sports Geniuses (in person), 1999-2001 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 1999 WrestleMania XV (in person), 1999 Veronica's Closet (in person), 1999 The Martin Short Show (in person), 1999 Between Brothers (in person), 1998-2010 ESPN Friday Night Fights (in person), 1998 WrestleMania XIV (in person), 1997 Arli$$ (in person), 1996 Savage Skies (in person), 1995 Howard Stern (in person), 1994 The Greatest League Championship Series (in person), 1994 Late Night with Conan O'Brien (in person), 1994 Dennis Miller Live (in person), 1992 The 50 Greatest Home Runs in Baseball History (Other), 1991 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (in person), 1991 The Late Show with David Letterman (in person), 1991 The Howard Stern Show (in person), 1991 Good Sports (in person), 1991 Babe Ruth (Performer), 1990 Baseball in the 80's (in person), 1986 Centennial: Over 100 Years of Philadelphia Phillies Baseball (in person), 1985 1985 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1983 1983 World Series (in person), 1983 1983 National League Championship Series (in person), 1982 1982 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1981 1981 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1980 1980 World Series (in person), 1980 1980 National League Championship Series (in person), 1980 1980 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1979 1979 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1978 Good Morning America (in person), 1978 1978 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1977 The Mike Douglas Show (in person), 1977 1977 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1976 1976 World Series (in person), 1976 1976 National League Championship Series (in person), 1976 1976 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1975 1975 World Series (in person), 1975 1975 National League Championship Series (in person), 1975 1975 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1974 The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1973 1973 National League Championship Series (in person), 1973 1973 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 1972 World Series (in person), 1972 1972 National League Championship Series (in person), 1970 1970 World Series (in person), 1970 1970 National League Championship Series (in person), 1970 1970 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1969 1969 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1965 1965 MLB All-Star Game (in person)
AL KALINE
Born: December 19, 1934 in Baltimore, Maryland
Full name Albert William Kaline
Born December 19, 1934, Baltimore,
Maryland
First Game: June 25, 1953; Final Game: October 2, 1974
Bat: Right
Throw: Right Height: 6' 1.5" Weight: 175
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1980
Named AL Player of the Year by The
Sporting News (1955 and 1963)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News Major
League All-Star Team (1955)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News AL All-Star
Team (1962 to 1963 and 1966 to 1967)
Won Major League Gold Glove as right
fielder (1957)
Won AL Gold Glove as center fielder (1959)
Won AL Gold
Glove as right fielder (1958)
Won AL Gold Glove as outfielder (1961 to
1967)
Film Credits
2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2010-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2008 2008 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2007 2007 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2005 2005 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (in person), 2002 A City on Fire: The Story of the '68 Detroit Tigers (in person), 2000 When It Was a Game 3 (in person), 2000 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 1995 Once There Was a Ballpark (in person), 1991 The Story of America's Classic Ballparks (in person), 1980 1980 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1977 One in a Million: The Ron LeFlore Story (in person), 1974 The Science of Hitting by Ted Williams (in person), 1974 1974 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 1972 American League Championship Series (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1968 1968 World Series (in person), 1966 1966 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1965 1965 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1960 Home Run Derby (in person), 1957 1957 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955 1955 MLB All-Star Game (in person)
WILLIE MAYS
Born: May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama
Baseball Career:
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 5' 10.5" Weight: 170
First Game: May 25, 1951 ; Final Game: September 9, 1973
Awards and Achievements:
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1979
Named NL Most Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1954 and 1965)
Named Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1954)
Named NL Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1954 and 1965)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1951)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News (1951)
Named All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (1963 and 1968)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1954 and 1957 to 1960)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1961 to 1966)
Won Major League Gold Glove as center fielder (1957)
Won NL Gold Glove as center fielder (1958 to 1960)
Won NL Gold Glove as outfielder (1961 to 1968)
Full name Willie Howard Mays
Born May 6, 1931, Westfield, Alabama
First
Game: May 25, 1951; Final Game: September 9, 1973
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 5' 10.5" Weight: 170
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1979
Named NL Most Valuable Player by
Baseball Writers' Association of America (1954 and 1965)
Named Major League
Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1954)
Named NL Player of the Year by
The Sporting News (1954 and 1965)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by Baseball
Writers' Association of America (1951)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by The
Sporting News (1951)
Named All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (1963 and
1968)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1954
and 1957 to 1960)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team
(1961 to 1966)
Won Major League Gold Glove as center fielder (1957)
Won NL
Gold Glove as center fielder (1958 to 1960)
Won NL Gold Glove as outfielder (1961 to
1968)
WILLIE MAYS
This article was written by John Saccoman and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for
American Baseball Research
If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in
the field every day, I'd still look you right in the eye and tell you that
Willie was better. He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar:
hit, hit with power, run, throw and field. And he had the other magic ingredient
that turns a superstar into a super Superstar. Charisma. He lit up a room when
he came in. He was a joy to be around.
--Leo Durocher, Mays's first manager, Nice Guys Finish
Last
Many contemporaries agree with Leo Durocher's assessment
of Willie Mays as the best all-around player in baseball history. Monte Irvin,
Willie's roommate in his early days with the Giants, said, "I think anybody who
saw him will tell you that Mays is the greatest ballplayer that ever lived."
Stan Musial, Mays's fellow 1950s immortal, echoes these sentiments, saying,
"Willie ranks with DiMaggio as the best I ever saw. He's the perfect ballplayer
too. Mays can beat a club with his bat, his glove, his arm and his legs."
In baseball's never ending attempts to somehow order its
gods, Mays is the only contender whose proponents rarely use statistics to make
their case. It is as if Mays's 660 home runs and 3,283 base hits somehow sell
the man short, that his wonderful playing record is almost beside the point.
With Mays it is not merely what he did -- but how he did it. He scored more than
2,000 runs, nearly all of them, it would seem, after losing his cap flying
around third base. He is credited with more than 7000 outfield putouts, most
exciting, some spectacular, a few breathtaking. How do you measure that? An
artist and a genius, for most of his 23 seasons in the big leagues, you simply
could not keep your eyes off Willie Mays.
The great ballplayer's father, William Howard Mays, was named after William
Howard Taft, who was the United States president when he was born in 1912. The
elder Mays worked in the steel mills of Westfield, Alabama, outside Birmingham.
Nicknamed "Kitty-Kat" or "Cat," he was a semipro baseball player for the
Westfield entry in the Tennessee Coal and Iron League. Cat's father, Willie's
grand-father, Walter Mays, was a sharecropper and pitcher. Cat's wife, the
former Anna Sattlewhite, was a high school track star. Willie once wrote, "[She]
held a couple of women's track records in that part of the country."
To read this article in its entirety, please click here
Interested in Baseball? If so, we strongly recommend that you visit and join the Society for American Baseball Research
Film Credits
2011 Prime 9 (Other), 2010 The Daily Show with Jon Stewart (in person), 2010 Charlie Rose (in person), 2010 A Hall for Heroes: The Inaugural Hall of Fame Induction of 1939 (Other), 2009-2011 Prime 9 (in person), 2008 2008 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2007 2007 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 2006 The Republic of Baseball: The Dominican Giants of the American (in person), 2006 Costas Now (in person), 2005 The Top 5 Reasons You Can't Blame... (in person), 2005 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (in person), 2005 ESPN 25: Who's #1 (Other), 2003 The Curse of the Bambino (Other), 2003 ESPN SportsCentury (Other), 2003 100 Years of the World Series (in person), 2000-2004 ESPN SportsCentury (in person), 2000 Michael Jordan to the Max (in person), 2000 Joe DiMaggio: The Final Chapter (in person), 2000 Here's to You, Charlie Brown: 50 Great Years (in person), 1999 Summer of Sam (Other), 1999 ABC 2000: The Millennium (in person), 1998 Up Close Primetime (in person), 1997 The Fifties (Other), 1993 Comic Relief: Baseball Relief '93 (in person), 1992 The 50 Greatest Home Runs in Baseball History (Other), 1992 Malcolm X (Other), 1992 1992 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1991 When It Was a Game (Other), 1991 This Week in Baseball's Greatest Plays (in person), 1990 The Golden Decade of Baseball (in person), 1990 Baseball's Greatest Hits (in person), 1989 My Two Dads (in person), 1989 Mr. Belvedere (in person), 1987 A Giants History: The Tale of Two Cities (in person), 1985 When Nature Calls (in person), 1977 1977 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1974-1976 The Way It Was (in person), 1974 Today (in person), 1974 Dinah! (in person), 1973 1973 World Series (in person), 1973 1973 National League Championship Series (in person), 1973 1973 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1972 The ABC Saturday Superstar Movie (in person), 1972 1972 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1971 1971 National League Championship Series (in person), 1971 1971 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1970 Della (in person), 1970 1970 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1969 The Joey Bishop Show (in person), 1969 The Joe Namath Show (in person), 1969 1969 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1968 1968 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1967 All-Star Benefit Celebrity Baseball Game (in person), 1967 1967 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1966 Bewitched (in person), 1966 1966 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1965-1970 The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (in person), 1965 1965 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1964-1967 The Hollywood Palace (in person), 1964-1966 The Donna Reed Show (in person), 1964 1964 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1963 A Man Named Mays (in person), 1963 1963 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1962 1962 World Series (in person), 1960 World Wide '60 (Other), 1960 Home Run Derby (in person), 1958 The Steve Allen Plymouth Show (in person), 1958 The Jack Paar Tonight Show (in person), 1958 1958 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1957 1957 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1956 The NBC Comedy Hour (in person), 1956 1956 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1955-1957 The Ed Sullivan Show (in person), 1955 1955 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1954-1962 What's My Line (in person), 1954 Tonight! (in person), 1954 The Colgate Comedy Hour (in person), 1954 The Colgate Comedy Hour (Sound), 1954 1954 World Series (in person), 1954 1954 MLB All-Star Game (in person), 1951 1951 World Series (in person)
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