R.I.P. Willie Mays

Another legendary athlete just passed away. Last night, after returning home from some child related activity, I read the news that Wille Mays had passed.

This one hurts even more than Bill Walton or Jerry West. Willie Mays was the first person, obviously on videotape, that I saw make the game of baseball fun. Mays was an all around athlete who happened to excel most at baseball. He also had this unbridled joy with which he played the game. Mays, on the videos I used to watch obsessively as a kid, always had a smile on his face. He would walk up to bat grinning ear to ear. He would swing the bat and smile as he ran the bases. He would track down fly balls and make incredible over the shoulder catches, and that smile never left. He would hurl in some of the most incredible throws I had seen, and after the out was recorded, he would laugh and that smile was ever present. Mays loved what he did, he seemed to understand it was a game and he looked thrilled to be on the baseball field doing some of the most unthinkable things at that time in the MLB.

Mays also happened to be very, very good at the game of baseball. He is a hall of famer, obviously. He hit .301 for his career. He tallied over 3,200 hits during his time. He hit 660 home runs. He drove in almost 2,000 runs and, to top it all off, he stole 339 bases. Willie Mays was Barry Bonds before Barry Bonds. Mays had this combination of speed and power. But, he could also hit for average. He was a threat anytime he came up to hit a homerun. And, if he didn't hit one out, he was going to get on base, and then he'd turn a single into a double or triple by swiping a few bases when the next hitter came up. He was the first player that I knew of who could do all of these things. Mays was this threat to every pitcher and opponent the moment he stepped into the batter's box. Not to be outdone, Mays also happened to be one of the best outfielders to ever lace them up. His speed gave him the ability to track down long fly balls. The plays that ended up on "Sportscenter" when I was a kid, had that show been around when Mays played, he would have had his own personal top 10 plays. He had to be an influence on other outfielders like Jim Edmonds and Ken Griffey Jr. He also had a rocket for an arm. He would track these long flys down, and then not to be outdone, he would rifle the ball back into the infield, trying to double someone up if possible. He was, more than assured, an influence on a player like Vlad Guerrero, who is one of my all time favorites. The skills were so great that he was acknowledged time and again with accolades. He has a ring. He was a 24 time all star. He was a two time MVP and a 12 time Gold Glove winner. He was the NL home run leader four times. He was a one time batting champ. His number 24 is retired by both the Mets and Giants. And he was on the MLB All Century team and the MLB all time team. Mays is, rightfully so, considered one of the best to ever play baseball.

Mays was beloved by many because he was such a nice guy. He would play stickball with kids anytime he visited Harlem. He never seemed to ruffle any feathers. And most players have nothing but nice things to say about him. Mays stuck around and was a hitting coach a bit after he retired from the game. He then went on to meet with several presidents, culminating in Barack Obama, the greatest president ever, given him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. The MLB would later rename the World Series MVP trophy the Willie Mays World Series trophy in 2017. Mays showed up in movies and tv shows periodically. He was married a few times and has some kids. He is also Barry Bonds' godfather. Mays is an icon when it comes to baseball. He showed up ready to play and ready to dazzle the fans. This is as big a deal to baseball as Walton and West are to the NBA. Hell, this is a bigger deal. Mays was a much bigger star and more important to the game.

Rest In Peace Willie Mays. Grab an over the shoulder fly ball wherever you may be right now. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast.

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Ken Griffey Jr is 100% a Hall of Famer

Piazza and some outfielder made the Hall of Fame

Last week the Baseball Writers Association of America voted Mike Piazza and Ken Griffey Jr into the Hall of Fame. Both are well deserved. Piazza is, probably, the greatest offensive catcher of my lifetime, maybe of all time. He was a threat to get on base almost every time he stepped to the plate. He left a lot to be desired on defense, but his offense was extraordinary.

Ken Griffey Jr, on the other hand, was my generations Willie Mays. He was the best hitter, the fastest player and the greatest center fielder since Mays himself. Look at these career stats. He was a .284 lifetime hitter in an era of dominant pitchers that were on steroids. He hit against guys like Roger Clemens, Curt Schilling and Randy Johnson and hit them regularly. Those guys 100 percent used steroids, in my opinion, and he still hit almost .300 for a career. He hit 630 homeruns with 56 being the most he hit in one season. That's incredible. He did not use steroids, was never accused of using steroids and he still hit 630 career homeruns. You have to be a pretty dominant hitter to put up those home run numbers for a career. He had almost 2,000 career RBI's coming in at 1,836. That means, he consistently knocked in 100 runs every year. Also amazing. He also had an on base percentage of .907. Insane. He was on base almost all the time. He either put himself in position to score, or other people scored because he was always getting on base. He also stole 184 bases in his career. That may not sound like a lot, but for a power hitter such as Griffey, that's phenomenal.

Forgetting about offense for a moment, Griffey is the greatest defensive player I'd ever seen. Some of the catches he made were astonishing. Go and look at them on the internet, they're wonderful. The way he tracked the ball and would chase it down was awesome. He was so fast, could climb the wall with ease and seemed like he could jump out of the stadium for a ball. He was an incredible center fielder, the best since Willie Mays, in mine and many others opinion.

I know that when he left Seattle to go to Cincinnati his career took a turn due to many injuries, but what he did for the first 11 years of his 20 year career were more than enough to get him into the Hall of Fame. Going home to Cincinnati was not the right choice for him, but when he was healthy there, he was still lethal. People seem to forget that, but he was just as dominate. When he signed with the White Sox and later a two year deal to end his career in Seattle, he was a DH and that suited the end of his run to perfection. Just let him bat, his injuries took away his speed and his aggressiveness in the field, and put that fear in pitchers that he still held over them.

Griffey is also the first player ever drafted number one overall to make the Hall of Fame. He lived up to the hype and then some. Griffey is one of the top ten baseball players of all time easily.

All this brings me to my main point of my blog today, how does he not become the first unanimous player to be elected into the Hall of Fame? What asshole writers, there were three of them, didn't think he was worthy of all 100 percent of the vote? What point are they trying to prove? What else could he have done for these people to get their vote? Did he need to hit over 700 homeruns? Was it the fact that he was a career under .300 hitter? Could he have stolen more bases? Is it because he never won a World Series? If so, that's asinine. Sure, Barry Bonds hit over 700 homeruns and had an over .300 career average, but he also took a ton of steroids and HGH and anything else that could give him an advantage. He's still not in the Hall of Fame, but he's getting more and more votes every year. Sure, Rickey Henderson, who is and deserves to be a Hall of Famer, stole more bases, but he was a terrible teammate and he wasn't 1/10 the fielder that Griffey was. And the whole "he never won on the big stage" debate is tired. Many, many undeserving guys have been key cogs in World Series victories for other teams. Do you all remember David Freese in the 2011 World Series? The huge game he had that gave my beloved Cardinals the game 6 win in the World Series won't get him even a sniff to the Hall of Fame. He will never even be in the discussion for the Hall and he was part of multiple World Series titles and appearances while in Saint Louis. I'm sure Griffey is much happier with his overall body of work in baseball than David Freese will ever be. Do these three writers really think, just because David Freese won a couple of World Series rings, that he is more deserving than Griffey Jr? If they truly do, they're more moronic than I initially thought. These three particular writers seem to want to be contrary just to be contrary. No real thought, they just figured that he shouldn't be unanimous since no one has ever been unanimous. They are the "hipsters" of the BBWAA or they are just mad racist or they're just dumb. Ken Griffey Jr is an all time great and that was proven by him getting 99+ percent of the vote, but he deserved all 100 percent of the vote. Shame on those three particular writers. You guys are dicks for the case of being dicks. I hope they feel bad about themselves because they are world class douchebags.

Thank you to Ken Griffey Jr for being an awesome baseball player and an even cooler person. You were an inspiration to me as a young little leaguer and I fully intend to show my son videos of you playing as he gets older and more involved in baseball. I can't think of a better pro for my son to emulate.

One more thing. Please wear your hat backwards, your trademark, for your Hall of Fame bust, it would be awesome.

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture Editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man podcast. He once climbed a ten foot chain link fence to rob someone of a wiffle ball homerun. Follow Ty on twitter @tykulik.