Mays was truly a player before his time, and the numbers we value in today's game would only have enhanced his all-time place.
Maybe the greatest baseball player of all time is Babe Ruth. Perhaps it's Henry Aaron or Barry Bonds or Josh Gibson or Oscar Charleston. Proponents of a more antiquated version of the sport might argue for Ty Cobb or Honus Wagner. For a time, before injuries wrecked their careers and their potential stamp on ultimate greatness, it could have been Ken Griffey Jr. or Mike Trout or Mickey Mantle, for that matter.
"There have been only two authentic geniuses in the world," actress Tallulah Bankhead once said."Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare."Writer Joe Posnanski once came up with an idea called"The Willie Mays Hall of Fame," because fans would complain that the standards for selection to Cooperstown were too low. It was a joke, of course. As Joe wrote, if Mays were the standard for the Hall of Fame, it would have only one member.
In Mays' era, the MVP award usually went to a player on the pennant-winning team. Other subjective qualities like leadership factored into the thought process, and writers were loath to give it to the same guy every season. Today, the focus is much more on statistical value -- the best player as opposed to just the key player on a first-place team.
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