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RIP: Willie Mays, 93-years-old

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Mrdibbs

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Definitely from the Golden Era of major league baseball.

I think it was the last weekend of the 1966 season and the Pirates were hosting the Giants. Friday night rain out resulted in a Saturday afternoon double header at Forbes Field. Pirates were in the hunt as were the Giants and the Dodgers.

The details are fuzzy, but I was there.

Juan Marichal, Willie May's batting 3rd, Willie McCovey batting 4th.

The incomparable (IMO) Roberto Clemente led the Buccos.

Only real memory was that the Bucs dropped both and World Series dreams were dashed.
 
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[email protected]

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fairgambit said:
Yes.

Willie Mays, was, as most know, the Godfather of Barry Bonds. Both were great players, and yet it is difficult for me to think of them in the same sentence. Players like Mays, Clemente, Aaron, were heros to me. Bonds, with all his baggage, is not. I have "baggage issues" with Pete Rose as well. I realize no one is perfect, and other great players have their issues, but Bonds and Rose have taken it to a different level. They will never be numbered among my list of "greats".
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He is easily the greatest living player.
 
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NewEra 2014

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psu31trap said:
My recollection of Willie Mays as a player was with the 1973 Mets, a team that had the Oakland A's all but beat if it were not for a Felix Millan error.

RIP Willie Mays!
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My recollection of that 1973 series was that Tom Seaver pitched Game 6 on short rest so that he could pitch the clinching game, either at the insistence of the Mets owner or Seaver himself. The Mets lost that game, as well as game 7. I wonder if things would have worked out differently if Seaver had pitched game 7 on regular rest.
 
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Nits74

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fairgambit said:
My Dad started buying Pirate season tickets in 1958 and so I saw the 1959 All Star Game in Pittsburgh. From 59' to 62' there were 2 games. Stupid.
Anyway, our seats were at field level and for batting practice I was able to get right down near the dugouts and see guys like Musial, Williams, Mantle, Mays, Spahn, Whitey Ford... What a thrill for a young kid! Photo from that day (not mine).
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FAIR, I still have a signed baseball from that game. The names on that ball are priceless.
 
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fairgambit

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Nits74 said:
FAIR, I still have a signed baseball from that game. The names on that ball are priceless.
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Wow. That is really a treasure! I'm a bit jealous.

I think I've mentioned before that I caught a foul ball off the bat of Bruce Kison in game 4 of the 71' World Series. I put the ball in a drawer and never thought to get it autographed. Bruce passed away in 2018. On top of that, my dearly departed younger brother, then about 10 years old, wanted to play catch with a friend and had no ball, so he took my Kison ball and used it. That added a bunch of grass stains to what had been a nearly clean ball. It was hard to get angry about it. He was just having fun. So..I have a grass stained ball from a 71' World Series game that was played on artificial turf. :)
 
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Nits74

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fairgambit said:
Wow. That is really a treasure! I'm a bit jealous.

I think I've mentioned before that I caught a foul ball off the bat of Bruce Kison in game 4 of the 71' World Series. I put the ball in a drawer and never thought to get it autographed. Bruce passed away in 2018. On top of that, my dearly departed younger brother, then about 10 years old, wanted to play catch with a friend and had no ball, so he took my Kison ball and used it. That added a bunch of grass stains to what had been a nearly clean ball. It was hard to get angry about it. He was just having fun. So..I have a grass stained ball from a 71' World Series game that was played on artificial turf. :)
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Fair, my Dad attended that All Star game, and bought that ball. I was only six at the time, so couldn't go. Had to laugh about your younger brother using your Bruce Kison ball. I can't count how many times I asked if I could use that ball to play with. Fortunately, my Dad wouldn't let me. By the time I was twelve I was thanking him for that.

P.S. Bucs just won 1-0 on a Reynolds HR.
 
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fairgambit

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Nits74 said:
Fair, my Dad attended that All Star game, and bought that ball. I was only six at the time, so couldn't go. Had to laugh about your younger brother using your Bruce Kison ball. I can't count how many times I asked if I could use that ball to play with. Fortunately, my Dad wouldn't let me. By the time I was twelve I was thanking him for that.

P.S. Bucs just won 1-0 on a Reynolds HR.
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Sounds like your Dad was a pretty good guy.
 
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psu31trap

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NewEra 2014 said:
My recollection of that 1973 series was that Tom Seaver pitched Game 6 on short rest so that he could pitch the clinching game, either at the insistence of the Mets owner or Seaver himself. The Mets lost that game, as well as game 7. I wonder if things would have worked out differently if Seaver had pitched game 7 on regular rest.
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If Gil Hodges was coaching Seaver would have pitched game 7.
 
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fairgambit

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laKavosiey-st lion said:
In an era when $ was way less, I was happily impressed
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8 million is no small amount but it shows the absurdity of salaries in todays sports. The "average" major league salary in 2024 is 4.98 million. My gawd....that is insane. And now college players are making more money than cops putting their lives on the line every day. Ah well, I think, to keep what little sanity I have left, I need to stay away from sports related threads on this board. Bring on the broads!

HD-wallpaper-group-01-grid-girls-models-people-grid-beautiful-girls-sexy.jpg
 
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laKavosiey-st lion

laKavosiey-st lion

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fairgambit said:
8 million is no small amount but it shows the absurdity of salaries in todays sports. The "average" major league salary in 2024 is 4.98 million. My gawd....that is insane. And now college players are making more money than cops putting their lives on the line every day. Ah well, I think, to keep what little sanity I have left, I need to stay away from sports related threads on this board. Bring on the broads!

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Iā€™m not angry with anyone who makes big money (legally) because Iā€™m a free market guy. Watching on tv and going to the games is why $$. That stops so will the crazy salaries, right?
 
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fairgambit

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laKavosiey-st lion said:
Iā€™m not angry with anyone who makes big money (legally) because Iā€™m a free market guy. Watching on tv and going to the games is why $$. That stops so will the crazy salaries, right?
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I agree. I don't blame the players. Fan demand drives up the salaries. In this town (Pittsburgh) I see grown men wearing T J. Watt jerseys to church. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but I think that is pathetic unless T.J. Watt is your son. That said, people are free to spend their money anyway they want and if it makes them feel good to be a Watt fan, who am I to say they are wrong? As for me, I will no longer join in the madness. Of course, that view is held by exactly 89 other people in this city and so I have no hope that things will change anytime soon. So be it.
As an aside, I am not a fan of putting other people's names on my stuff. I never drive around with a dealer name on the back of my car. One time I went to pick up a new car and it had a dealer sticker on the back. I told the salesman to remove it. He politely refused. I said if it was not removed I would not buy the car. He, and the sales manager, called my bluff. That was a mistake. I walked out and, just as I was ready to leave, the owner stopped me. "Give us a few minutes" he said. I did, and the sticker was removed. He also gave me a $100 bill for my trouble.
 
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HarrisburgDave

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Anyone who grew up in the 1960s will remember this catch which was featured on the NBC baseball game of the week commercials. The Vic Wertz catch is most often shown, but this one shows a Mays in his late 30s still going after the ball with abandon.

May celestial light shine upon him.


 
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Tom McAndrew

Tom McAndrew

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www.mlb.com

Moment of silence held at all ballparks for Willie Mays

Major League Baseball held a moment of silence before each game on Wednesday in honor of Willie Mays, who died Tuesday at age 93. All 15 games observed the moment of silence before the first pitch. This followed similar gestures honoring Mays that occurred at some ballparks Tuesday night as
www.mlb.com www.mlb.com
 
SleepyLion

SleepyLion

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fairgambit said:
I agree. I don't blame the players. Fan demand drives up the salaries. In this town (Pittsburgh) I see grown men wearing T J. Watt jerseys to church. I'm sorry if this offends anyone but I think that is pathetic unless T.J. Watt is your son. That said, people are free to spend their money anyway they want and if it makes them feel good to be a Watt fan, who am I to say they are wrong? As for me, I will no longer join in the madness. Of course, that view is held by exactly 89 other people in this city and so I have no hope that things will change anytime soon. So be it.
As an aside, I am not a fan of putting other people's names on my stuff. I never drive around with a dealer name on the back of my car. One time I went to pick up a new car and it had a dealer sticker on the back. I told the salesman to remove it. He politely refused. I said if it was not removed I would not buy the car. He, and the sales manager, called my bluff. That was a mistake. I walked out and, just as I was ready to leave, the owner stopped me. "Give us a few minutes" he said. I did, and the sticker was removed. He also gave me a $100 bill for my trouble.
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You and I are thinking along the same lines on this.
I don't wear jerseys for a team I'm not on, especially if some other person's name is on the back.
I have done the same thing with the cars, except usually the vinyl ones will come off with a hairdryer on low heat. I got a plain license plate frame too.
 
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MtNittany

MtNittany

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My Dad got through to the big club after spring training, and my Grandmother made him fly from the east coast to SF with an apple pie on his lap - that she baked for Willie. Their lockers ended up being together. Willie said it was the best pie he ever tasted. I think he said that about all the rookie's Mom's pies. He was the best.
 
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