Willie Mays was the greatest

Thought for the day

LETTERS

Willie Mays, ‘Poetry on the Diamond’

New York Times readers pay tribute to the Giants great, who died on Tuesday.

June 19, 2024

To the Editor:

Re “Willie Mays, Baseball’s Electrifying Player of Power and Grace, Is Dead at 93”

I was 10 when the Giants moved from New York to San Francisco. From the very first day I watched Willie play ball in Seals Stadium, I was hooked. By the time I graduated from high school in 1966, I proudly displayed 15 framed pictures of the Say Hey Kid on my bedroom walls.

No one played baseball like Willie. His love of the game was infectious. My friends and I routinely pored over The San Francisco Chronicle’s Sporting Green and quoted his stats all day long.

Willie wasn’t just a terrific fielder; he had blazing speed and a cannon for an arm. My guess is if he hadn’t been forced to stand in center all those cold, windy nights at Candlestick Park, he easily would have hit more than 700 home runs (he had 660 as it was).

Today’s stars, like Shohei Ohtani, Mike Trout and Aaron Judge, are truly talented players, but they don’t play ball the way Willie did. A 24-time All-Star and a two-time M.V.P., the Say Hey Kid was my idol.

I wish my sons, who are 44 and 32, could have seen him play. If they had, they would know why I tell everyone that Willie was “poetry on the diamond.” For this 75-year-old baseball fan, there will never be another Willie Mays, the greatest player of his, and my, generation.

Denny Freidenrich
Laguna Beach, Calif.