Willie Mays passed away last week at the age of 93. He was the best baseball player I ever saw.

There is no doubt he was born with great physical abilities but just as importantly he had great instincts for the game, which is something that separates the great players from the good ones.

Mays was born May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Ala., to Annie Satterwhite and Cat Mays. His parents never married and separated when he was three. His father and two aunts raised him. Mays was a standout high school athlete excelling not only in baseball but also basketball and football. Mays’ professional baseball career began in 1948 when he played briefly during the summer with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, a Negro League minor league team. Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. The Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers both scouted him, but the New York Giants signed him to a $4,000 contract. Playing excellent defense, Mays was called up by the Giants on May 24, 1951. Lacking confidence, Mays got off to a very slow start but managed by a supportive Leo Derocher he was soon on his way. At the end of the season, he was named National League Rookie of the Year.

Except for Army service in 1952 and 1953, Mays played with the Giants until May 1972 when he was traded to the Mets where he finished his career at the end of the 1973 season. Mets play-by-play announcer Gary Cohen said after hearing of Mays’ death that his mother had been a lifelong Giants fan until Mays was traded to the Mets then becoming a Mets fan.

I was 12 years old in 1957 when I along with my father and two of my younger brothers attended a New York Giants game with their bitter cross-town rivals the Brooklyn Dodgers at the now long gone Polo Grounds just across the Harlem River from Yankee Stadium. It was my first opportunity to see my favorite Player Willie Mays live and up close.

From my earliest memories we were a New York Giants family except for my youngest brother who for some reason, perhaps he liked Bob Prince’s voice on the radio, became a Pittsburgh Pirates Fan. In my family we didn’t buy our first television so we kids could watch Howdy Doody but so my father could watch the Giant and Dodger National League playoff game in 1951. That of course was the game where Giant Bobby Thompson hit “the shot heard around the world” off of Dodger Pitcher Ralph Branca.

By some fluke of the air waves, we could listen to Dodger broadcasts on New York’s WMGM but were never able to pick up Giant games clearly so even though we were Giant fans we knew Dodger players better than Giant Players. It was exciting to be in the ballpark and see future Hall of famers like Roy Campanella, Duke Snider, Gil Hodges and Pee Wee Reese on the field.

However, the player that outshined them all, even in batting practice, which fans got to see in those days, was Willie Mays. I clearly remember seeing the press and photographers hovering around him before the game. Although we didn’t have the chance that day to see him make another over the shoulder catch like his catch of Vic Wertz’s hit in game one of the 1954 World Series, we did see the man most consider the greatest center fielder of all time at work.

When National League Baseball returned to New York in 1962 we got to see Willie again at the Polo Grounds and later Shea Stadium. He was now in his 30s, but he was still an exciting player and arguably still the best player in baseball. Before the 1963 season, Mays signed a contract worth a record-setting $105,000 per season (equivalent to $1,040,000 in 2023) indicating the value the Giants placed on Mays’ contributions.

On April 30, 1961, I watched a game on NBC between the Giants and the Milwaukee Braves in which Willie Mays hit four home runs, something that has been accomplished by only 18 players in the history of the game. Unfortunately, Willie’s slugging at County Stadium in Milwaukee could not keep the Giants from being beaten by the score of 14-4.

For me Willie Mays was the greatest ballplayer who ever played baseball. He was twice National League MVP, won 12 Gold Gloves, 24 times an All Star selection, National League Home run leader four times, led the league in stolen bases 4 times and was National League batting champ in 1954. Also, his number 24 has been retired by both the METS and Giants and he was elected to both the Major League All Century Team, and All – Time Teams. Finally, he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1979.

Mays was criticized during the 1960s for not speaking out on the issue of civil rights. However, for a young boy living in a small town in upstate, his gentlemanly, soft spoken example and play on the field made him a hero in my books.

Thomas Kirkpatrick Sr. is a Silver Creek resident. Send comments to editorial@observertoday.com