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Willie Mays Birthday
Happy 90th. Great article with a beautiful Kreindler painting.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/s...e-mays-90.html |
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Say Hey, I wonder if the Chesterfields helped him get to 90!!
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IF you cannot load email it to me at kuhr@mac.com and I will upload it for you |
Thanks Jeff. I just tried uploading it a different way, but if that didn't work, I emailed you as well.
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Here is the Photo being Posted on Behalf of Scott Marcus
A Topps 1953 Autographed #244 Card NICE..... |
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Woot!
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Happy Birthday, Willie.
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1960 San Francisco Giants Japan Tour Magazine
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Happy B-day to the greatest living baseball player.
https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=22528 https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=28278 https://www.net54baseball.com/pictur...ictureid=28307 |
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Say Hey, birthday guy! Heres my one/only - love it, mine for life!
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So we're a bit early...
Willie's Birthday is TOMORROW! May 6th! Close enough! |
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Maybe it was the syrup....
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Always the well-dressed gentleman. Was hoping to get Barry to sign at some point, but that issue is probably moot. (sorry about the glare from the magazine protector.)
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Say Hey from an unknown set
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Say Hey from an unknown set
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Say Hey from the incredibly rare Jerry Jonas set
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Say Hey from the incredibly rare Jerry Jonas set
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Here are some of my 'cards that never were' creations showing what the beautiful result would've been had Topps recognized his trade to my Mets in its 1972 set...
Attachment 456257Attachment 456258 Attachment 456254Attachment 456255 Attachment 456256 Happy birthday #24!!!!!!!!!!!!! |
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Great job on those cards Darren.
Happy Birthday Say-Hey! - |
Saying goodbye
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Willie in the Ebbets field locker room 1957
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Here are a couple of his last Bowman cards.
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That was a great NYT article today! I loved how Mays said his biggest achievement was coming into the league with a size 32 waist and leaving the league with the same. One of the all time greats no doubt.
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/s...e-mays-90.html |
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May 6th
Imagine if Willie had a chance to showcase his skills as an NFL Quarterback, we can only dream.
My all time favorite sports athlete in any sport. John |
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One of the most valuable cards in my collection.
https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hU_SavJJ-...s1600/mays.jpg |
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My favorite Mays card:
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https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...e-mays-psa-3.5https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...lie-mays-psa-1https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...lie-mays-psa-7https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...lie-mays-psa-6https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...lie-mays-psa-5https://www.collectorfocus.com/image...mays-psa-6.5-x |
Some really nice items here guys. 1952 Berk Ross Willie and kind of a cool snapshot. Keep it going....
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...4c6b2865_c.jpg1952 Berk Ross SGC 50 Willie Mays by Hugh Murphy, on Flickr https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b202e073_z.jpgNice Wille Mays snapshot, mid 1950`s ? by Hugh Murphy, on Flickr |
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Ok, now that it actually IS Willie's Birthday, Happy Birthday Say Hey!!Attachment 456422
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I remember the nonchalant way Willie Mays caught routine fly balls with his "basket" catch. One of a kind!
https://youtu.be/5abB64ISJo8 Larry |
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Happy Birthday to the great Willie Mays! One of the greatest of 'em all!!
I was lucky to have caught him a couple of times - once as a Giant, and at least one time as a Met, although it may have been more. The first time I saw him, I went with my best friend, his brothers, and his Dad, to Shea to catch the Giants play the Mets, as I remember in August, 1971. We were a little bit late, but we got there early in the game. Willie struck out every time that day, at least as I remember it! But then when I saw him at Shea again as a Met, he hit a home run over the left centerfield wall. I just can't remember if this was during a Mayor's Trophy game against the Yankees or a regular season one. As I'm writing this, I'm pretty sure it was during a regular season game, and that I saw him play then as a Met at least twice. My first card of Willie was a 1968 card. Don't have it now, unfortunately, but I still have a lot of his cards. Here are a couple that I saved from my collection as a kid: Attachment 456430 |
From the Baseball Americana Facebook page. Some great tributes. Not intended to start any kind of a flame war:
1) "That Willie Mays, he's one of the greatest center fielders who ever lived. You can go back as far as you want and name all the great ones Tris Speaker, Eddie Roush, Max Carey, Earle Combs, Joe DiMaggio. I don't care who you name, Mays is just as good, maybe better." Harry Hooper ▪️2) "Willie Mays is the greatest ballplayer I've ever seen. I never saw Joe DiMaggio play, but if Joe DiMaggio was better than Willie Mays, he belongs in Heaven." Roberto Clemente ▪️3) "I think I was the best ballplayer Ive ever seen. I feel nobody in the world could do what I could do on a baseball field. I hope Im not saying anything wrong, but you have to think youre the best. The next one would be Roberto Clemente." Willie Mays ▪️4) "[Mays] and Joe DiMaggio are the greatest center fielders I ever saw. But Joe couldn't run the bases as well; he wasn't as daring as Willie. I would pay money just to see him play. He brings back the old days for a fellow like myself. . . . [And] how about that arm? It's the greatest I ever saw. Bob Meusel, of the old-time Yankees, was good, too. But you can't beat Willie." Frankie Frisch ▪️5) "I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder." Sandy Koufax ▪️6) "Snider, Mantle, and Mays. You could get a fat lip in any saloon by starting an argument as to which was best. One point was beyond argument, though. Willie was by all odds the most exciting." Red Smith ▪️7) "I've seen Speaker, Cobb, Hooper oh, all the great outfielders but I've never seen anyone who was any better than Willie Mays. . . . [He] can throw, field, hit, run, anything. . . . Cobb was a better hitter. But MaysI don't know, there's just something about him." Al Bridwell ▪️8) "Mays is the only man in baseball I'd pay to see play." Ty Cobb ▪️9) "Mays is one of the few modern players who [is] just as good as the best of the old-timers." Sam Crawford ▪️10) "There have been only two geniuses in the world: Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare." Tallulah Bankhead ▪️11) "You used to think if the score was 5-0, [Mays] would hit a five-run homer." Reggie Jackson ▪️12) "[Mays] scooped the ball up at the base of the 406-foot sign, whirled and fired. It came in on one bounce, directly in front of the plate, and into the glove of catcher Tom Haller, who put it on the astonished Willie Stargell. It was described by old-timers as the greatest throw ever made in ancient Forbes Field." Bob Stevens, San Francisco Chronicle, August 25, 1965 ▪️13) "People talk about that catch [1954 World Series] and, I've said this many times, that I've made better catches than that many times in the regular season." Willie Mays ▪️14) "An unusual event occurred in the seventh. [Jim] Greengrass tripled over the head of Willie Mays. To a Giant fan, this is like tripling over the Empire State building." Bob Cooke, New York Herald Tribune, 1954 ▪️15) "[Mays] would routinely do things you never saw anyone else do. He'd score from first base on a single. He'd take two bases on a pop-up. He'd throw somebody out at the plate on one bounce. And the bigger the game, the better he played." Peter Magowan ▪️16) "I just played every day and enjoyed what I was doing. When I made a great catch it was just routine. I didn't worry about it. Winning was important. Winning." Willie Mays ▪️17) "They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays." Ted Williams ▪️18) "If [Mays] could cook, I'd marry him." Leo Durocher ▪️19) "As a batter, [Mays'] only weakness is a wild pitch." Bill Rigney ▪️20) "I'm not sure what the hell charisma is, but I get the feeling it's Willie Mays." Ted Kluszewski ▪️21) "I always enjoyed playing ball, and it didn't matter to me whether I played with white kids or black. I never understood why an issue was made of who I played with, and I never felt comfortable, when I grew up, telling other people how to act. . . . It was the grownups who got upset . . . I never got into a fight that was caused by racism." Willie Mays ▪️22) "When I was seventeen years old, I realized I was in a form of show business. It's like being on the Broadway stage. He doesn't phrase his part exactly the same way every day. He thinks up new things. So I played for the fans, and I wanted to make sure each fan that came out would see something different I did each day." Willie Mays ▪️23) "In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this." Willie Mays ▪️24) "Hopefully, they can say, 'There goes the best baseball player in the world.' I honestly believe I did everything in baseball that a baseball player can do, and I did it with love." Willie Mays |
- 2/3rds of the planet is covered by water, the rest is covered by Willie Mays-
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My two humble Mays cards. With a bit of luck (and a lot more money), I hope to pick up another card or two from his early days in New York
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I really like the 1968 Topps Game cards for their headshots of the players, and I have always thought this was a nice one of Willie's noggin.
Brian |
Willie Mays with some other guy.....
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Happy Birthday Willie!!
https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/202...631e42dd6d.jpg Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk |
As a kid, the rule was you get a Mays card you treasure a Mays card, no matter the condition. Here's one you don't see too often:
https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...bit%20Mays.jpg Here's a proof of one of his exhibit cards: https://photos.imageevent.com/exhibi...ys%20proof.jpg |
Good line i saw...Francisco Lindor has gone 0 for 24 in honor of Mayss birthday.
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Home and Away 1950 Trenton Giants scorecards. The Away is signed by Mays.The Home is signed as well by 3 players but not Mays. It took a long while to find the home version. Happy Birthday Mr. Mays..
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The picture didn't come out too clearly, but here are a few more of my Mays cards. Got these a long time ago, back in the 70s...
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I heard Nancy Pelosi was the Master of Ceremonies and she screwed that one up!
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Her official Twitter account posted congrats to Willie and lauded all his accomplishments, along with a photo of Pelosi with ... Willie McCovey.
The tweet was deleted and retweeted with a photo of Pelosi and Mays. The mistake was blamed on a Pelosi staffer. |
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