Just saw that the Say Hey Kid died Tuesday at 93.
Obviously, he is among the very small group of men who are in the conversation as the best all-around player ever. I was fortunate enough to see him play with the Mets in one of his final seasons.
Just saw that the Say Hey Kid died Tuesday at 93.
Obviously, he is among the very small group of men who are in the conversation as the best all-around player ever. I was fortunate enough to see him play with the Mets in one of his final seasons.
The Yankees could go 0-162 and it wouldn't be enough
In the past dozen years, three big leaguers have had single season WAR scores of 10 or higher: Trout twice, Betts and Judge, once each.
From 1954-1966, Willie Mays had six years at 10 WAR or higher. Mays led the majors in WAR 10 times in those 13 seasons, when he averaged 9.5 WAR.
He won two Most Valuable Player Awards, but could've won 10.
Mays also holds the record (tied with Aaron and Musial) for most All Star games with 24…
By all accounts, he was a great guy.
He very easily can be considered the best "all around" player of alltime.
His defense was second to none, in his era. He won 10 straight GG and 11 total.
He had enough speed to lead the league 4 times in row in SBs. He ended his career with 339 of them. He also led the league in triples, 3 times.
With the bat, he rarely K'd more than 80 times a season and came pretty close to having more BBs (1468) than Ks (1526 in 12,545 PAs!) He led the league in BA, once and ended with a .301 BA and .384 OBP. Twice he led the league in OBP and 5 times in SLG.
His power was enormous. He led the league in HRs 4 times during an era with plenty of HR hitters.
He led the league in TBs, 3 times and OPS, 5 times, including once at age 34.
He was ROY and then spent almost 2 years in the military.
2 MVPs (12 times a top 6 MVP vote getter)
24 AS
He ended up with a .940 career OPS (155 OPS+) Papi retired at age 40 with a 141 OPS+ for some perspective.
From age 39-42, he still had an OPS of .846 (136 OPS+)
RIP Say Hey!
When you say it's gonna happen now
When exactly do you mean?
How do they calculate WAR for these old time players ? Analytics were not in use. And there is limited film footage of the games. Do they just take the often mocked " baseball card stats " and convert them into a WAR figure? How ? As for the " Say Hey Kid" , I was lucky enough to see him play at the old Polo Grounds in New York. A real treat. R.I.P.
Old school is good school.
How do they calculate any WAR? Old-timers like me can't even fathom WAR formulas for current players.
(is that fathom or phatom -- as in phantom stats?)
Here's one I get: Mays hit a record 22 home runs in extra innings. If clutch is not repeatable, he was more repetitive than anyone else getting the boys home (or to an establishment) before Last Call...
Old school is good school.