ONCE UPON A TIME

The city of New York was the Mecca of baseball. From the early turn of the 20^th century until the mid 1950’s baseball was truly exciting. The leagues had only 16 teams and in only The National and American leagues.

The Bronx Bombers, the New York Yankees seemed to play in the World Series every year, and their opponent was either the New York Giants from Manhattan, or the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Patrolling centerfield in those days from 1951 to 1957 were three great players that elicited debate all season long of every one of those years.

MICKEY MANTLE – 536 HR, 1,509 RBI, 1,677 RS –

NEW YORK YANKEES

"When I'm hitting, I'd play for nothing. When I'm not, any kind of money I receive
makes me feel as if I'm stealing."   Mickey Mantle

"He owns the smartest set of muscles I ever saw."  Casey Stengel

There was #7, the Mick, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees. A country kid from Oklahoma, he came to New York on April 17, 1951 and almost instantly replaced the great Joe DiMaggio in center. A switch-hitting shortstop by trade, he was moved to center because of a veteran shortstop named Phil Rizzuto. Mantle had speed, grace, defense and unbelievable power! He is the only player who ever hit a ball out of Tiger Stadium, and one off the façade at the old Yankee Stadium!

Winner of the Triple Crown in 1956,

AL MVP in ’56, ’57 and ‘62

AL HR Leader in ’55, ’56, ’58 and 1960

AL Slugging Leader in ’55, ’56, ’61 and 1962

16 time All Star

1962 Gold Glove Award

Longest Official Home Run 565 feet

Most World Series Home Runs 18

Most World Series RBIs 40

Most World Series Runs Scored 42

Most World Series Total Bases 123

Most World Series Walks 43

Most World Series Strikeouts 54

Most At-Bats for the Yankees 8,102

Most Games Played for the Yankees

Mantle played on bad knees all of his career, and it would boggle the mind to see the stats he would have put up if he were completely healthy all those years.

WILLIE MAYS – 660 HR, 1903 RBI, 2062 RS –

New York/San Francisco Giants/NY Mets

“I've been hearing this since I first joined the Reds organization, that I'm going to be the next this or that. It's tough on a young player coming up. You show some positive things and everybody jumps on that and says you should be the next Willie Mays. - Eric Davis

In 1951, a young kid from a Minneapolis farm team of the New York Giants would be called up and by July, be building the resume that would land him in the Hall of Fame. The ‘Say Hey’ kid had arrived in New York and baseball would never be the same again. In the six years he played in New York, he would electrify the fans of baseball, and play the game with the vigor and joy never seen before in the sport.

By the end of the 1954 World Series, Willie Mays would become a living legend, based on an incredible over the shoulder catch and return toss that stood the whole of the Polo Grounds up in wild disbelief, after an successful run at first place, winning the pennant for the second time in 4 years!

Leo Durocher, the Giants manager explained Mays as a 5-tool player, that is one that could hit, hit with power, run, field and throw. That was Willie Mays. Ranked as the #2 all time player in baseball, ahead of his idol Joe Di Maggio, Willie Mays held these records:

1951 NL Rookie of the Year Award

20-time NL All-Star (1954-1973)

2-time NL MVP (1954 & 1965)

1963 All-Star Game MVP

1968 All-Star Game MVP

12-time Gold Glove Winner (1957/ML-CF, 1958-1960/NL-CF & 1961-1968/NL-OF)

NL Batting Average Leader (1954)

2-time NL On-Base Percentage Leader (1965 & 1971)

5-time NL Slugging Percentage Leader (1954, 1955, 1957, 1964 & 1965)

5-time NL OPS Leader (1954, 1955, 1958, 1964 & 1965)

2-time NL Runs Scored Leader (1958-1961)

NL Hits Leader (1960)

3-time NL Total Bases Leader (1955, 1962 & 1965)

3-time NL Triples Leader (1954, 1955 & 1957)

4-time NL Home Runs Leader (1955, 1962, 1964 & 1965)

NL Bases on Balls Leader (1971)

4-time NL Stolen Bases Leader (1956-1959)

20-Home Run Seasons: 17 (1951, 1954-1968 & 1970)

30-Home Run Seasons: 11 (1954-1957, 1959 & 1961-1966)

40-Home Run Seasons: 6 (1954, 1955, 1961, 1962, 1964 & 1965)

50-Home Run Seasons: 2 (1955 & 1965)

100 RBI Seasons: 10 (1954, 1955 & 1959-1966)

100 Runs Scored Seasons: 12 (1954-1965)

200 Hits Seasons: 1 (1958)

Won a World Series with the New York Giants in 1954

Baseball Hall of Fame: Class of 1979

DUKE SNIDER – 407 HR, 1,333 RBI,

BROOKLYN DODGERS/NEW YORK METS/SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS

The Duke of Flatbush joined the Dodgers in 1947, making him the oldest of the three centerfielders. Like Mays, he only won 1 World Series while playing in the New York area. Duke had a love/hate relationship with the fans of Brooklyn but deep down inside it was a mutual admiration.

Batting third in the line-up, Snider had impressive offensive numbers: he hitting 40 or more home runs in five consecutive seasons (1953–57), and averaging between 1953-1956 42 home runs, 124 RBI, 123 runs, and a .320 batting average. He led the National league in runs scored, home runs, and RBIs in separate seasons, and appeared in six post-seasons with the Dodgers (1949, 1952–53, 1955–56, 1959),

 

Here are Snider’s accomplishments:

Eight-time All-Star (1950–56, 1963)

Six-time Top 10 MVP

1950: 9th

1952: 8th

1953: 3rd

1954: 4th

1955: 2nd

1956: 10th

.540 slugging percentage (37th all-time)

.919 OPS (50th all-time)

3,865 total bases (87th all-time)

407 home runs (41st all-time)

1,333 RBI (77th all-time)

1,481 runs scored (74th all-time)

850 extra-base hits (65th all-time)

17.6 at-bats per home run (59th all-time)

Dodgers career leader in home runs (389), RBI (1,271), strikeouts (1,123), and extra-base hits (814)

Holds Dodgers single-season record for most intentional walks (26 in 1956)

Only player to hit four home runs (or more) in two different World Series (1952, 1955)

One of only two major leaguers with over 1,000 RBI during the 1950s. The other was his teammate, Gil Hodges.

THAT’S ALL I WROTE, FOLKS!