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Brad Olson

Brad Olson

TVWBB Diamond Member
I was too young to see Willie Mays in his prime but I've been able to see a lot of his highlights over the years, and from them I learned that baseball is far, far more than just hitting (although that's sadly lost on a lot of modern players). Know a kid who's expressed an interest in the game? Show him or her The Catch...if that doesn't make somebody want to play then I don't know what possibly could.

The 1950s (often considered to be baseball's Golden Age) had Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider playing CF...and that was just in New York! And out this way at that same time there was a kid playing RF for the Braves, and he wound up being pretty decent as well. In fact, if Mays hadn't lost 250+ games due to military service it's not unthinkable that he could've gotten to 715 before Henry Aaron did.

So...let's talk some baseball, shall we?

 
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Old enough to have seen him also believe it or not Chuck Connors when he was a Cub, and of course many of the Cub greats.
 
I had a high school friend who was invited by the SF Giants for a team try-out. When he got back, I asked him how it went. He said it was a lot of work, a lot of fun and he got to race Willie Mays. I asked how he did. He said “I finished in second place.”
I remember Willie Mays television public service announcements for blasting caps in the 1960’s.
 
My Dad was a NYG fan growing up, then (like most NYC NL fans) switched over to the NYM in the 60s. Mays was his favorite player.

We both got to see Willie at the tail end of his career with the Mets.

This is the cap I wear as a nod to my Dad, and Willie too. Only a very few people correctly ID it as NYG rather than NYM cap.
 

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I’ve been a Giants fan since I was 8, live less than 10 minutes from the Stick.
Willie was a great Giant but I have to say his godson Barry was my guy. Willie always stood up for him.
 
I’ve been a giants fan since I was 5. Saw a lot of Willie in my day.
It is my most humble opinion that he was the best baseball player I’ve ever seen.
 
One player I always loved to watch play (though from a bit later generation) was Andre Dawson (The Hawk). I loved to watch that guy, He was (is) baseball personified. Played for the love of the game. You could tell by how he would "dig" for everything no mattery what. The guy was/is just a total class act. I remember when he would run out to right field and his own special group of fans.
He came from that "old school" mentality (like Mays and a few others).
 
LMichaels said:
One player I always loved to watch play (though from a bit later generation) was Andre Dawson (The Hawk). I loved to watch that guy, He was (is) baseball personified. Played for the love of the game. You could tell by how he would "dig" for everything no mattery what. The guy was/is just a total class act. I remember when he would run out to right field and his own special group of fans.
He came from that "old school" mentality (like Mays and a few others).
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Great player, great man. Used to watch him when. WGN was the only channel baseball was on. Loved Harry Caray and Steve Stone when I was a kid.
You believe that, all we could watch was the Cubs out here.
I think the Giants were trying to charge people early on for Giants Vision or some ****. My mom wasn’t paying.
 
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