Welcome to the new blog series I’m starting. As far back as I can remember, I’ve always been fascinated with famous athletes playing with teams that people seem to forget about. Like how Shaq played with the Celtics. Or, Babe Ruth playing with the Boston Braves. So that’s what this series will cover, famous athletes playing for a team you might not know about. Every Friday, we will take one famous athlete who played only a couple of seasons for a different team that people seemed to forget about. What better player to kick the series off than the great Willie Mays? Many seem to forget he played for the New York Mets the last two seasons of his career.
Willie Mays’s Time In Queens
Willie Mays was a legend of New York baseball. He was a major contributor to what was known as the Golden Age of New York baseball, when the Dodgers, Giants, and Yankees all dominated the baseball world. Every year, two of these three were in the World Series. However, this Golden Age would come to an abrupt end after 1957 when the Dodgers and Giants left the Big Apple and moved to California, taking Mays and National League baseball with them.
The National League wouldn’t return to New York until 1962 when the New York Mets were founded. As much as this was a new franchise, it also was a tribute to the Giants and Dodgers. That’s why the Mets are orange and blue, orange for the Giants, and blue for the Dodgers. They also would spend the early part of their history getting famous Giants and Dodgers to dawn the orange and blue. In 1972, they went out and got one of the most famous New York baseball players ever.
The 1972 season
On May 11th, 1972, the Mets traded Charlie Williams and a cash amount rumored to be around $100,000 to the Giants for Mays. Returning Mays to New York was something Mets owner Joan Payson always wanted to do. Payson was a huge Giants fan and wanted to bring the greatest New York Giants back to New York. She even made a deal with Mays that when he retired his number 24 would be retired by the Mets. A promise that wouldn’t be fulfilled until Steve Cohen retired the number in 2022
He would make his Mets debut on May 14th ironically against the Giants. Unlike his time with the New York Giants, Mays would return to New York at first base. It didn’t take long for him to make an impact. In the fifth inning with the game tied at four, Mays launched his first home run as a Met to put them in front. The one run was all the Mets needed as they would go on to win the game 5-4. Mays would play 69 games with the Mets in 1972 slashing .267/.402/.446, good for a .848 OPS. He also had eight home runs and nineteen RBIs.
The 1973 Season
The 1973 was Mays’s only full season in Queens. It was also his last season in the bigs. It got off to a rocky start during spring training after several alteractions with Mets manager Yogi Berra. Berra and Mays didn’t have the best relationship, as the two would continue to but heads throughout the season. However, despite the disagreements and Mays’s regression, he reached several milestones during the season. He would make his final All-Star game appearance, thanks to a special invite from National League President Chub Feeney. Then on August 17th, he would hit his 660th and final home run. He slashed .211/.303/.344, for a .647 OPS. He also finished the season with six home runs and 25 RBIs.
1973 would also be the last time Mays appeared in his final postseason. He didn’t do much in the NLCS, only appearing in game five as a pinch hitter. He got an RBI single to help contribute to the 7-2 win in the clinching game over the Reds. However, he would become a mainstay in the Mets lineup during the 1973 World Series, due to an injury to Rusty Staub. In seven at-bats, he had two singles and an RBI. Unfortunately for him and the Mets, they lost the World Series in seven games to the Oakland A’s, ruining the perfect ending to Mays’s career.
Thanks for reading! If you have any players’ suggestions please drop them in the comments. Credit for my feature image goes to Bettmann. You can find more sports content at Belly Up Sports and follow me on Twitter/X.
