Roger Angell on Willie Mays in June, 1962:
"...the best ballplayer anywhere. He hit a homer each day at the Polo Grounds, made a simple, hilarious error on a ground single to center, and caught flies in front of his belt buckle like a grocer catching a box of breakfast food pulled from a shelf. All in all, I most enjoy watching him run the bases... (1/2) #baseball #ripwilliemays
(2/2) "...He runs low to the ground, his shoulders swinging to his huge strides, his spikes digging up great chunks of infield dirt; the cap flies off at second, he cuts the base like a racing car, looking back over his shoulder at the ball, and lopes grandly into third, and everyone who has watched him finds himself laughing with excitement and shared delight." #baseball #ripwilliemays
P.S. #SABR website has an embarrassing footnote on the Yawkey era #RedSox and their bid to sign Mays...that kind of shit was the real "curse." https://sabr.org/research/article/the-true-story-of-willie-mayss-signing/ #baseball #ripwilliemays
The True Story of Willie Mays’s Signing – Society for American Baseball Research