10 Reasons why Willie Mays is the greatest ever.....agree or disagree?

Hallco

ESPN Blog released this morning....

Good arguments here...what do you think?

PowderedH2O

Bob Gibson might disagree. Mays vs Gibson 92 At Bats with only 18 hits (.196 avg), 3 HR's, 9 RBI's, 16 walks, and 30 strikeouts.

It is the age old argument. Mays had a nice long fabulous career. But at his peak, he was not as good as Mantle.

cpamike

Greatest living ballplayer...YES. Greatest ballplayer of all-time...NO.

Ruth was the best and the arguments that they use in the article are lame. It wasn't that Ruth was the best player during his era, no one was even close IMO. The guy could catch, he could pitch, he could hit for power like no one before him, and he could drink anyone under the table.

Willie was good over a long period of time, but as was already said Mantle was better in his prime, and there were other players (Aaron, etc.) that weren't too far behind. Heck, Ruth was outhomering entire teams!!! JMHO.

57loaded

i'd agree with the Mantle over Mays.

they were both all-time greats.

Mays was and always will be my favorite, though.

halfcentman

<< <i>i'd agree with the Mantle over Mays.

they were both all-time greats.

Mays was and always will be my favorite, though. >>



Mays is the greatest 5-tool player of all time. I do not think that point is very debatable.

rbdjr1

Willie Mays vs. Hank Aaron

IMO, 'Hammerin' Hank' beats the 'Say Hey Kid' by a nose, at the wire!

In 22 seasons, Mays played in 2,992 games, had 10,881 at-bats, hit .302,
had 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, 1,903 RBIs, and scored 2,062 runs.
He was the National League Rookie of the Year winner in 1951,
a 20-time All-Star and won MVP awards in 1954 and 1965.

In 23 seasons, Aaron played in 3,298 games, had 12,364 at-bats, hit .305,
had 3,771 hits, 755 home runs, 2,297 RBIs (the most all-time) and scored 2,174 runs.
He is also the all-time total base leader with 6,856.
He was a 21-time All-Star and won the MVP award in 1957.


Edit Other: Mays had a .981 fielding percentage and Aaron had a .980 fielding percentage in their respective careers. Aaron had 3 gold glove awards. Nobody ever was a better fielder than the flashy Willie Mays, with his great fielding & basket catches! Willie had 12 gold glove awards. Mays has the edge in fielding. Both were great fielders!

rd

Mickey71

Mays was fantastic. I'm too young to have watched him play...but by all accounts he was just awesome. Great baserunner also.

MantleMarisFordBerra

For a great story on Mr. Mays and his impact: read this.

Tabe

The stat about 10% of Mays' at-bats coming against HOFers is really, really impressive. I'm not in the "Mays is the best of all-time" camp but he sure as heck is in the discussion.

Tabe

WeekendHacker

Didn't read the article, not interested. Mays was a great player but because he lacked character, I really never liked him. He often gave the impression that he was above others - especially after leaving the game. Yep, sure enough, he is a top 5 player of all time, but like Bonds, he has never earned my respect. Just because you are great at something, you can also be humble and simply respect others and certainly appreciate the gifts you've been given and the opportunity you have and the people who support you. I don't think Mays ever got that and if he did, he didn't display that appreciation.

This article only came out because of his birthday, not because ESPN really believes that his is the greatest ever. It's the new way of the media market these days.

mcadams

I assume we're talking about greatest of the post war era? There's no good way to compare Mantle/Mays to say.... a Ty Cobb, who was greatest of the deadball era.

perkdog

No such thing as a Greatest Ever, its all about opinion and a million other variables..

dontippet

<< <i>Willie Mays vs. Hank Aaron

IMO, 'Hammerin' Hank' beats the 'Say Hey Kid' by a nose, at the wire!

In 22 seasons, Mays played in 2,992 games, had 10,881 at-bats, hit .302,
had 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, 1,903 RBIs, and scored 2,062 runs.
He was the National League Rookie of the Year winner in 1951,
a 20-time All-Star and won MVP awards in 1954 and 1965.

In 23 seasons, Aaron played in 3,298 games, had 12,364 at-bats, hit .305,
had 3,771 hits, 755 home runs, 2,297 RBIs (the most all-time) and scored 2,174 runs.
He is also the all-time total base leader with 6,856.
He was a 21-time All-Star and won the MVP award in 1957.


Edit Other: Mays had a .981 fielding percentage and Aaron had a .980 fielding percentage in their respective careers. Aaron had 3 gold glove awards. Nobody ever was a better fielder than the flashy Willie Mays, with his great fielding & basket catches! Willie had 12 gold glove awards. Mays has the edge in fielding. Both were great fielders!

rd >>




It appears that Hank Aaron may be underrated. Those stats are unbelievable.

Estil

On the overall balance sheet, Mays is indeed better than Mantle; but how come it's Mantle cards and not Mays cards that have always been the ultimate to own from the traditional modern era (1948-present)? You'd think Mays would be at least tied with Mantle in value and prestige.

And here's reason #11 why Mays is better: Mays was Charlie Brown's most favorite real life ballplayer (in the Peanuts strips from the 1960s, Charlie Brown blows a spelling bee where his first word "maze" Charlie spells "M...A...Y...S..." and later gets sent to the principal's office for yelling at his teacher about it).