Willie Mays, one of the best to ever play the game, passed away today at age 93.

His famous catch:

Truly one of the all-time greats... RIP...

Do you comb the obituaries or something?

I grew up when baseball was king and Willie Mayes was the best of all great players. Sad day.

Those Giants' teams with Mays, McCovey, and Cepeda were a fearsome bunch.

My favorite as a little kid until Al Kaline came along. From West Virginia my Dad drove us all the way to Pittsburgh to see a double-header between the Pirates and the NY Giants - I got to see Willie take infield and after taking balls in CF he came in and took some grounders at 3B --- And Then --- the rains came, rained hard all day, after sitting there for about 3 hours they canceled both games - Had to be the greatest sports-related disappointment. Many years later my wife and I were walking down the street in NYC and there in a pink caddy was Willie with the license plate SAY-HEY.
As mentioned earlier I grew up when baseball was KING and my friends and I could probably name the starters for every MLB team. Nowadays there are teams where I couldn't name one player. Willie was, in my opinion, the greatest 5-tool player of all time.

pop5app wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 5:56 am

I grew up when baseball was king and Willie Mayes was the best of all great players. Sad day.

baseball is making a comeback . pitch clock is helping.

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 1:15 pm

pop5app wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 5:56 am

I grew up when baseball was king and Willie Mayes was the best of all great players. Sad day.

baseball is making a comeback. pitch clock is helping.

Not sure it was ever going away, only the talking heads thought so. Still America’s past time and now a global sport. Very diverse.
Shaving 20-30 mins of game time might have helped a little and draw some fans.

No offense 311 - but I don't know how old you are - if you lived during the 50s and 60s and were old enough to remember those days you would understand that baseball was KING - the NFL, NBA weren't even close - the only thing close was boxing and that began to dwindle -

hapapp wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:26 am

Those Giants' teams with Mays, McCovey, and Cepeda were a fearsome bunch.

So were Mantle, Maris, and Berra...and Whitey on the mound.

WVAPPeer wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 8:38 pm

No offense 311 - but I don't know how old you are - if you lived during the 50s and 60s and were old enough to remember those days you would understand that baseball was KING - the NFL, NBA weren't even close - the only thing close was boxing and that began to dwindle -

Side note back when I was a younger teen we actually had a morning and evening paper. Had to wait for the later one to see the results of the prior night west coast games. Those detailed box scores were great to read. I don’t recall the same level of obsession for the NFL or NBA. NBA took off around 1980 or so when Bird and Magic arrived. Even in the early 80’s the NBA finals were tape delayed. The NFL pretty much started and stopped Sept to January. Little to no off season stuff.

Bigdaddyg1 wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2024 6:30 am

WVAPPeer wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 8:38 pm

No offense 311 - but I don't know how old you are - if you lived during the 50s and 60s and were old enough to remember those days you would understand that baseball was KING - the NFL, NBA weren't even close - the only thing close was boxing and that began to dwindle -

Side note back when I was a younger teen we actually had a morning and evening paper. Had to wait for the later one to see the results of the prior night west coast games. Those detailed box scores were great to read. I don’t recall the same level of obsession for the NFL or NBA. NBA took off around 1980 or so when Bird and Magic arrived. Even in the early 80’s the NBA finals were tape delayed. The NFL pretty much started and stopped Sept to January. Little to no off season stuff.

Bingo...even for the Reds, our newspaper was an afternoon deal. So, when I got before going to practice...it was straight to the sports page to see who did what in the lineup.

RBI baseball on the N8 was king of all baseball games. Lost lots of study time at App to that one.

We had morning and afternoon papers as well - my best friend was a Giants fan and Willie was his favorite player - if he wasn't at my house he would call me late afternoon for the SF score-
Also if you guys remember The Sporting News would come out weekly and it would have info from the previous week - all box scores, etc., and they also had a lot of info on each team's minor league teams - I read from front to back

NattyBumppo'sRevenge wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:16 am

RBI baseball on the N8 was king of all baseball games. Lost lots of study time at App to that one.

When I came to App in 1969, I introduced Big League Manager to my roommate. I still have the game in my basement.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217 ... eball-game

hapapp wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2024 12:08 pm

NattyBumppo'sRevenge wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:16 am

RBI baseball on the N8 was king of all baseball games. Lost lots of study time at App to that one.

When I came to App in 1969, I introduced Big League Manager to my roommate. I still have the game in my basement.
https://boardgamegeek.com/boardgame/217 ... eball-game

There was a computer game called Earl Weaver Baseball in the 80’s which was just baseball management and no actual playing. I played with neighborhood kids some. I would always fill up my team with Reds players. And Daryl Strawberry.

311neers wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 7:56 pm

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 1:15 pm

pop5app wrote: ↑

Wed Jun 19, 2024 5:56 am

I grew up when baseball was king and Willie Mayes was the best of all great players. Sad day.

baseball is making a comeback. pitch clock is helping.

Not sure it was ever going away, only the talking heads thought so. Still America’s past time and now a global sport. Very diverse.
Shaving 20-30 mins of game time might have helped a little and draw some fans.

It may not have gone away but attendance is down a good bit ands TV viewership is off from peak years. And compared to football and basketball the gravitas it held is way down. It was not on a quick death watch but it was trending down for decades in importance. And if it did not change in a few decades it could have become more of a minor league. Maybe not dying outright but much diminished. It is safer than most sports unless you are hit in the head or line derived to as a pitcher. Injuries happen but not brain trauma you see in football (gridiron and association.) Being safer and allowing for longer careers does have an appeal to a parent and that can help keep the sport around.

On a somewhat related note…if you’re a baseball fan and listen to audiobooks, ”Ball Four” by Jim Bouton is truly outstanding. The book documents Bouton’s career as a MLB knuckleball pitcher with the Yankees and other teams. This tell-all was controversial and Bouton became a baseball pariah for several decades because he wrote about the antics that went on in MLB clubhouses, on road trips, etc. back in the 1960’s & 70’s

Bouton does a masterful job narrating the book. Even if you’re not a huge baseball fan, I encourage you to check it out. I’ve listened to 250+ audiobooks over the years and this is one of the very best.

Speaking of shorter baseball games.

A few hours ago, the Greensboro Grasshoppers had a perfect game going for 5 1/3 innings and the game was over in 1 hour and 45 minutes. I have to admit I was getting excited by the end of the 3rd inning. Ended with 3 hits for the away team.

McLeansvilleAppFan wrote: ↑

Thu Jun 20, 2024 10:07 pm

Speaking of shorter baseball games.

A few hours ago, the Greensboro Grasshoppers had a perfect game going for 5 1/3 innings and the game was over in 1 hour and 45 minutes. I have to admit I was getting excited by the end of the 3rd inning. Ended with 3 hits for the away team.

Are the Hoppers a NY Yankee affiliate? The old G'Boro minor league team was.