Speaking of long-lasting consistently good careers, here is a Willie Mays APBA card I haven’t featured till today. It comes via George Wazeck who posted this on Facebook:
Hmmmm. I thought I knew a lot about 60s baseball, growing up on it, but I never heard Willie Mays referred to as “Buck”. I may be wrong, and if so I will slink away in shame and disgrace never to darken anyone’s doorstep. Say Hey!
Anyway he just hit a 7th inning homer to put the Giants up 3-2 over the Pirates.
Nothing fishy about that 11 roll.
I know I’ve posted plenty of Mays’ cards in the past (here’s one of my favorites) but this one stacks up there with the rest.
Mays’ 1963 season was one of the few during his heyday that he didn’t lead the league in any significant category. That said, he had a fantastic season which led to being fifth in MVP voting. He also won a Gold Glove and was named an All-Star.
32-year old Mays batted .314 with 32 doubles, 7 triples and 38 home runs. That home run count was third in the league behind Aaron and McCovey who both had 44, by the way. With eight, it was first time he was in single digits in steals in eight years.
Willie had an influence on his Giants. He drove in 103 runs and scored 115 runs himself. ‘Buck’ had 66 walks and struck out 83 times.
| Split | G | GS | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | CS | BB | SO | BA | OBP | SLG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1963 Totals | 157 | 155 | 671 | 596 | 115 | 187 | 32 | 7 | 38 | 103 | 8 | 3 | 66 | 83 | .314 | .380 | .582 |
Willie’s woots
When I think of the term ‘Five-tool player’, I usually think of Willie Mays. And this card exemplifies that. He’s a fast baserunner. He’s a good fielder (OF-3). And he can hit and hit for power.
Mays’ 1-1-4-6 will hit home runs but also is perfect to get the right amount of triples. On top of that, he has a 44-7, a 55-7 and a 15-10. Lots of hit numbers to get on base for the ‘Say-Hey Kid’.
Willie walked just enough to get three 14s. I was thinking he would get a fair amount of 13s but he only garnered three with a couple of sac fly-inducing 26-30 and 46-30.
Might want to think about base coaching that runner on second with Mays up. He has a 53-16. It’s a hard call with Mays’ two 7s.
Finally, Mays is rated as a SS-6. He only played one game at that position in 1963 so APBA probably didn’t have a choice in giving him the lowest rating for shortstops.
thanks George!
