Saturday, November 20, 2021

1972 ALL-STAR SUB-SET: WILLIE MAYS

Moving along in my on-going 1972 All-Star sub-set thread today, we have the great, if not greatest, Willie Mays as the next outfielder who started for the National League in the classic 1971 Midsummer Classic:

 
Though Mays was winding down his incredible baseball career by the time the 1971 season rolled around, he was still producing, finishing the season with 18 home runs and 61 runs batted in for the San Francisco Giants, leading the league with his 112 base on balls and .425 on-base-percentage.
Anyway, not much to get into about arguably the best all-around player in baseball history. 3000+ hits, 660 homers, 1900+ R.B.I.'s., 1951 Rookie of the Year and N.L. M.V.P. in 1954 and 1965. But he was much more than just stats. He was the "Say Hey Kid".
By the time the 1970's hit, he was a walking legend of the sport, and being enshrined in the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 was the cherry on top of it all.