Another one

I sometimes think that I spend more time talking about sports figures that have died than just about anything else. That’s not the plan but as we get older…anyway we lost another great last week who made watching baseball and sports in general a lot of fun.

Willie Mays, the New York and San Francisco Giant outfielder passed away at the age of 93. I watched several tributes and of course the words greatest baseball player of all time was part of the conversation. I think that Willie Mays was pretty darn good but what made him great was his absolute love for the game.

Mays played in the Negro American League as a teenager and would be bought by the New York Giants in 1950 to play in the Major League. He earned the National League Rookie of the year in 1951. He was drafted into the military and would serve in 1952-53. He would not see combat in Korea but he missed two seasons of professional baseball. In 1954 Mays would be the NL MVP and the Giants would win the World Series.

That would be the only World Series championship that Mays would win. His San Francisco Giants would lose to the Yankees is 1962 and after he was traded to the New York Mets he would play in his last World Series in 1973 in a loss to the Oakland Athletics. That was also the last season of Mays’ stellar career.

For a lot of these great baseball players serving in the military was important. For some there was combat duty and for others like Mays they were fulfilling their duties in the states. Everyone has a job but that time away from professional baseball can never be made up.

In the summer of 1965, my dad, mom, brother Larry and I made a trip to California to visit may oldest brother and his family. This was our vacation just about two weeks after harvest was finished. Now whenever we made a trip like this there usually wasn’t a lot planned in advance. It was a lot of let’s see what’s going on and see if we can make the time for it.

Now my brother Ray was working and living near San Francisco and it just so happened that the Los Angeles Dodgers were in town to play a three game weekend series at Candlestick Park.

In 1965, the Giants and the Dodgers were two of the best teams in all of baseball. The series was sold out and I know that Larry and I were hoping to be able the see one game. Now my brother Ray had a friend that had ways of getting tickets to a sold out venue which we thought was pretty cool.

So he had five tickets to the game. Three were together and two others weren’t. Well my dad, Ray and his buddy all had seats together. Larry was 17 at the time and was one section over from them and then I got the last ticket one more section over from him. I was 13 at the time and it was a bit eerie. I certainly wasn’t in Ritzville anymore. I wouldn’t advise this seating arrangement today.

In the lineup that night were the guys I wanted to win, the Dodgers and in the home dugout were the Giants. Willie Mays was having a great year and would be named that season’s MVP. Looking back on it now I really do wish that I would have paid a little bit better attention to the game on the field instead of people watching. There were a lot of inebriated fans that easily could have been tailgating for hours. As a young lad of 13 most of those people occupied my vision and the only thing I really got out of the game was the Dodgers lost and this was with less than a month to go in the season.

I really do wish that I had spent more time researching Mays, and his teammates and focused on the game. There were several future Hall of Famers on the field that night. And even though the Dodgers lost that game it was fun to go to a Major League game.

Willie Mays played all out and the fences he crashed into during his early years weren’t padded and I’m sure took a toll. Looking back on this era of baseball it is the passion that these guys played with that was impressive. They weren’t making millions but they were playing for the love of the game and Willie played with a smile on his face and the want to win. That is what made him great. He loved what he was doing and the fans loved what he was doing too!

— Dale Anderson is a sports columnist from Ritzville. To contact him, email [email protected].