Willie Mays by the numbers: Five statistics to help tell story of Hall of Famer’s legendary career

Willie Mays, arguably the greatest player in baseball history, died Tuesday afternoon. He was 93 years old. For several reasons, Mays’ career cannot be fairly summarized by reciting his statistics or revealing his on-field accomplishments; he was, and frankly should remain, bigger than treatment allows. As veteran scribe Joe Sheehan wrote: “if you love baseball, a little piece of you is missing today.”

Still, baseball is the numbers game. For many observers, a player’s statistics serve as an entry point into his career, a Rosetta Stone to understanding what all the fuss is about. More than 50 years have passed since Mays threw his last big league hit; Although he is an inner circle legend, it is unreasonable to expect all fans to have unlimited knowledge of his triumphs. That’s where statistics come in handy. They can fill in the gaps and spark the curiosity needed to dig deeper, to learn more about a player and their story.

Everyone should know Mays’ story.

With that in mind, we here at CBS Sports wanted to honor Mays’ life by paying a little tribute to his career. Below, then, you will find five numbers that help contextualize his genius as a ballplayer.

1. 24 All-Star Games

Ted Williams, a legend in his own right, once said, “They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.” It’s hard to argue with that statement. Mays finished his career with a record 24 All-Star Game appearances. Although this number is slightly inflated since MLBfor a time played in two All-Star Games per season, Mays, however, made the Midsummer Classic every season from 1954 to 1973, or what served as his final season in the major leagues.

Mays was also named All-Star Game MVP in 1963 and 1968.

It’s almost incomprehensible these days, playing every All-Star game for two decades; It’s hard enough to do them for a decade straight. Barry Bonds never did that; Shohei Ohtani may never do that; Mike Trout did that, if you give him a pass for the COVID-19 year, but even his run will fall short of May’s.

Earning a spot year after year, for two decades in a row, requires an unearthly amount of consistency and focus and, yes, a little good old-fashioned luck – all the conditioning in the world doesn’t make someone immune to pulling a hamstring, or tearing it. a lip. This last point wasn’t supposed to diminish Mays’ performance, but rather improve the race: everything had to be in precise alignment for him to do what he did. This type of syzygy is rare, which makes it even more special.

2. 660 home runs

The subsequent rise of Henry Aaron (and later Barry Bonds) overshadows the fact that Mays was the second player in baseball history to surpass the 600 home run threshold. (Babe Ruth was first.) Mays would finish with 660 home runs in his career, a number that so far ranks sixth.

Mays didn’t just assault either. He led his league in batting average once and on-base percentage twice. He also set the pace for stolen bases four times, demonstrating his great speed.

What’s more, Mays was also one of four players to record 600 home runs and 3,000 hits, alongside Aaron, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols.

3. 12 Golden Glove Awards

Mays wasn’t just a great hitter, of course. He was also one of the most impressive and talented individual defenders in the history of the sport. It is appropriate that Mays Trademark game was branded as “The Catch” – no more specifics are needed, as everyone knows the exact move. Can you imagine this happening in today’s debate-obsessed world? No way.

While Mays’ field-goal catch during Game 1 of the 1954 World Series has endured and continues to endure – even now, nearly 70 years later, similar plays lead to a reference to Mays – his defensive legacy is far greater than any one play only. . Los Angeles Dodgers executive Fresco Thompson once said Mays’ glove was “where triples go to die.” This skill and reputation helped Mays win 12 Gold Glove Awards during his career, the most of any center fielder in MLB history.

4. 156.2 Wins Above Replacement

We’ve established that Mays has been an elite hitter and an elite fielder at a premium position for longer than most players can dream. It should come as no surprise, then, that he ranks highly in terms of estimated wins above replacement – after all, you could argue that he was the most complete player in baseball history, and they played the game for a long time.

Baseball Reference’s calculations, to cite one source, show Mays with the fifth-most WAR of all time:

1. Babe Ruth, 182.6

2. Walter Johnson, 166.9

3. Cy Young, 163.6

4.Barry Bonds, 162.8

5. Willie Mays, 156.2

It wasn’t just because Mays compiled WAR for a long time. He did this with brilliant season after brilliant season. As our Matt Snyder detailed on Tuesday:

An 8.0 WAR season is generally considered MVP caliber. Mays had 11 of them, behind only Ruth and Bonds’ 12. Nobody has more than nine anymore. If we define the criteria for 9 WAR seasons, Mays came in second with nine (Ruth had 10, no one else has more than eight). If we were to go to 10 WAR seasons, Mays and Rogers Hornsby would have six. Ruth was nine. Nobody has more than three anymore.

Regardless of what you think about the value of WAR, you have to admit that Mays’ dominance certainly feelings right.

5. 168 AL/NL games entering age-23 season

We will conclude this exercise by noting that Mays’ statistics could have been even more impressive if not for circumstances beyond his control.

Remember, Mays began his career as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues before signing with the then-New York Giants. Mays would appear in 155 MLB games with the Giants before reporting for military duty in 1952 after being drafted during the Korean War. He would not return to the MLB field until 1954, his age-23 season.

MLB only recently incorporated Negro League statistics as “big league” numbers. Although this decision was long overdue, it barely affected Mays, whose time with the Black Barons was limited.

Still, given that Mays had instant success at the MLB level — he won the Rookie of the Year award in 1951 after hitting .274/.356/.472 with 20 home runs and seven stolen bases in 121 games — it’s worth asking whether he He would have joined the 700-homer club if he had been able to play and focus exclusively on his baseball career during the 1952-53 campaigns.

We will never know the answer for sure. And in some ways, I consider it a testament to Mays’ brilliance that it matters little to his reputation as perhaps the greatest player of all time.