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Message: [QUOTE="SWC75, post: 5100962, member: 289"] Willie was the greatest player of the second half of the 20th century. i can't say he was the greatest player of the 21st century as he didn't play in this century. The Babe was the player of the 1st half of the 20th century. Willie's numbers were tremendous but they limit people's appreciation of him. he was the last baseball superstar to lose significant time to military service, a year and a half near the beginning of his career. He came out of the service and hit .341 with 41 home runs and his team won the pennant and world series. He probably would have caught Ruth in homers before Aaron did without that, (he wound up 54 short). Then there was the shift to Candlestick, with a strong cross-wind to right field for a right-handed hitter. Then there was the 60's, when Commissioner Ford Frick, an old buddy of Ruths, raised the mound and increased the strike zone to prevent what he considered cheap record-breaking, resulting in what has been called the "second dead ball era". If Willie had played in the 'steroid era', he wouldn't have needed steroids to put up awesome numbers, (I've always thought it was really the juiced ball era). But beyond that, he was a 6 tool player: he could hit for average, hit for power run the bases, catch the ball, throw the ball and he was the smartest player who ever played the game. He did things tgo win games other players never thought of. He did things to win games they couldn't do and he did things in ways nobody else could do them. Everybody who ever saw him play through he as the greatest player they had ever seen and so did their kids. I've heard people denigrate his famous catch in the 1954 series. The first thing to remember is that that wall behind him is 483 feet behind home plate. That's well beyond every center field fence today, (tonight I attended a Syracuse Mets game and 'deepest center field' is 400 feet away). The other thing is that that's half the play. Willie caught the ball over his head, pirouetted and rifled the ball to second to prevent anyone from scoring in the 8th inning of a 2-2 game the Giants won in extra innings. It was game one of a series against a team that was supposed to crush them and the Giant went on to sweep the Indians. I read a football writer insist that "you see an over-the-head catch like that in every football game". No you don't. Also, Willie didn't know Vic was going to hit it there. it's not like a receiver who knows that's where the throw is going to go. Willie's catch and throw was as if a receiver came in late, missed the huddle and stood there, looking at what the quarterback did. The QB throws it 50 yards into the end zone and the tardy receiver runs to the end zone, catches the ball over his head and, in celebration, whirls and throws it back to the quarterback. The thing is, neither Willie nor anyone on the Giants considered that to be his greatest play. they'd seen plays like that - or better - in regular season games that never got the recognition because they weren't in the world series. [MEDIA=youtube]fWKA9Zi5-_Y[/MEDIA] [/QUOTE]

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