Who was better, who would you take, Mickey Mantle or Willie Mays?

[CMIZ5290]

2 of the best of all time, but I would have to go with the Mick...

[Zone91]

More popular and great player Mantle...better stats Mays....based on stats alone it would be Mays.

[jimhopkins82]

I'm sure talent wise they were similar but Mays had the much better career.

[Zone91]

Mays played a lot more games than Mantle...but if Mantle had been healthy he would have most likely finished with similar stats than Mays.

Popularity wise Mantle by a 100 miles easy!!! Ask kids of today who Mantle is they mostly all know can't say the same for Mays.

[Paul S]

Gary Cooper

[Sean]

Originally Posted by Zone91

Mays played a lot more games than Mantle...but if Mantle had been healthy he would have most likely finished with similar stats than Mays.

Popularity wise Mantle by a 100 miles easy!!! Ask kids of today who Mantle is they mostly all know can't say the same for Mays.

To paraphrase Bill James" someone is not a great player because he could have been a great player." Mantle would have had better stats if he had been healthy. But he wasn't, and he didn't. And in the end that's all that matters.

[jimivintage]

Diehard Yankees fans will likely pick Mantle, but is this really a competition? Mays by a landslide.

[Shoele$$]

Originally Posted by Zone91

Mays played a lot more games than Mantle...but if Mantle had been healthy he would have most likely finished with similar stats than Mays.

No he WOULD have had better stats than Mays had he played longer AND wasn't hung over/injured most of the time. Mantle thought he wasn't gonna live past 40......and he drank like it.

Not to mention he played damn near his whole career on a broken body. Had Mays gone through what Mantle did physically and drank himself half to death like Mick, Mays wouldn't even be in the HOF right now or have come even close to his career stats. "Die hard" Yankee fan or not......Mantle was the MUCH more talented ball player than Mays. Faster, stronger, tougher and more naturally talented than Mays or anybody else at that time.

[AMBST95]

You can have all of the talent in the world, but if you can't harness it and actually use it, it's pointless. Willie Mays wins this one. The question you pose isn't who had the most talent, but who was better. Mays was better than Mantle as his career numbers clearly show.

[Zone91]

Same in hockey what if Mario Lemieux was healthy would he be the all time points leader....that DOES not count he simply is not....same with Mantle...love the guy but Mays was better. Mantle should have known better and staid healthy but he CHOSE not to and the price to be paid now in history is that Mays was and still is a better player. Mays was simply a smarter man and staid healthy by CHOICE!!!

[Runscott]

Wow. I would have said Mantle, but I'm learning that you don't want to disagree with a Mays fan

[midwaylandscaping]

Even as a Yankee fan, I still say Mays

[Sean]

Mays had the better career, I don't think that can be argued. But at his best, Mantle was better. Mick's three best years (1956,'57,and'61) were each better than Willie's best year. So it comes down to which matters more to you, peak performance or career achievement. As for me, I choose career value, so my vote goes to Mays.
I also think that Mick's 1956 Triple Crown year was the best season any centerfielder has ever had. Does anyone have any thoughts on this?

[auggiedoggy]

Willie Mays was my childhood baseball hero. I tried to play the game like him - imitating his basket catch style in the outfield (which made my Little League coach nervous)

I became a Giants fans because of him. I still remember when my father took me to Montreal in 1969 to see the Expos vs the Giants and Mays was playing that night. I was over the moon.

All this to say my choice is Mays.

[Sean]

I just want to add some pictures to what is a great thread:

scan0032.jpg

[Edward]

Mick put more fans in the seats, I think. I'll go with Mick.

[irishdenny]

Originally Posted by CMIZ5290

2 of the best of all time, but I would have to go with the Mick...

Hey Kev,

Can You still Start the Poll Option?
I would really Like to See who the Crowd will Roar Louder for!

May a NeW Thread!?

[CMIZ5290]

Originally Posted by irishdenny

Hey Kev,

Can You still Start the Poll Option?
I would really Like to See who the Crowd will Roar Louder for!

May a NeW Thread!?

I agree with the poll. not sure I know how to do it however!

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by tedzan

As a Yankees fan, obviously I favor Mickey. In retrospect, all three were great in their inimitable way.

However, for sheer drama, Mantle leads the pack. Events like seeing the Mick hitting a 565-foot HR that cleared the CF wall at old Griffith Stadium
is incomparable.

Or, seeing Mickey hit a Grand-Slam in the 1953 World Series to beat the Dodgers is something the other two guys never did.

Or, when Mickey ran down Gil Hodges' drive to the Monuments in deep left-center field of Yankee Stadium in the 5th game of the 1956 World Series
to preserve Don Larsen's Perfect game.

Furthermore, I could run-up this thread to 200 posts re-telling the excitement generated by Mickey Mantle (which I saw in person or on TV). I'll just add this event......

Probably, the most tremendous HR hit by Mickey occurred 50 years ago (next month) at Yankee Stadium. In the 11th inning vs the Kansas City A's, Mick blasted a HR
that hit the RF facade 102 feet above the field. The point of impact was 363 feet from Home Plate. Some witnesses claimed the trajectory of the ball was still rising
upon impact. Others said it had reached it's apex. In any event, had this drive cleared the Stadium's roof, it was projected that it would have traveled 600+ feet.

I have the May 23rd 1963 New York News front page depiction of this event....but, it is somewhere in my archives and I have not yet found it. Perhaps some one on
this forum has the picture of this blast (or a link to it).



Their personalities at signing events............


............................ FRIENDLY .................................................. SOUR-PUSS .............................................. A REAL GENTLEMAN






TED Z
__________________________________________________ ______________________
LOOKING FOR these T206 guys to complete my AMERICAN BEAUTY 460 sub-set

AMES....CAMNITZ....CRAWFORD (bat)....DOYLE (port)....JORDAN (bat)....MARQUARD
McGRAW (port-cap).....McQUILLAN (bat).....TINKER (bat off).....WILTSE (port-cap)

[Jlighter]

Here you go Mr. Z.

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/historic.php?id=1963_3

[tedzan]

Originally Posted by Jlighter

Here you go Mr. Z.

http://www.hittrackeronline.com/historic.php?id=1963_3

Thanks for the link, Jake

I've read thru all 100+ posts in this thread. Lots, and lots of numbers. However Jake, crunching all these stats cannot really tell the story of these two great players,
as anyone who actually saw them play can. I was very fortunate as a kid, growing up near New York City, during the late 1940's and the decade of the 1950's when
the Yankees, Dodgers, and Giants dominated the BB scene. Furthermore, when you reach my age, your memory starts regressing back to your youth....and, most of
those great BB years from my youth are very clear in my mind.







TED Z

__________________________________________________ ______________________
LOOKING FOR these T206 guys to complete my AMERICAN BEAUTY 460 sub-set

AMES....CAMNITZ....CRAWFORD (bat)....DOYLE (port)....JORDAN (bat)....MARQUARD
McGRAW (port-cap).....McQUILLAN (bat).....TINKER (bat off).....WILTSE (port-cap)