The oldest center fielder ever to win a Gold Glove turns 70 on Sunday.
For those of us who grew up idolizing Willie Mays, even from 3,000 miles away, it's a time for celebration. For those of us who cried the day that Gary Nolan struck out the great Mays four times in one game, it's kind of a sad day.
|  | | Willie Mays is third all-time in home runs with 660. |
How can Willie be 70? It doesn't seem that long ago that we saw him race across the outfield and make a basket catch. We will forever marvel at his combination of power and speed in such a compact package. We will never forget the joy with which he played, the hat flying, the smile that could light a ballpark.
He is the greatest living baseball player, a subjective observation of course, but one that's supported by so many career baseball men. It's hard to argue against it.
To hit 660 home runs is extraordinary; if Mays hadn't missed slightly more than a year and a half to military service, he might have hit 700 home runs. To accumulate such audacious offensive numbers playing nearly half his career in the 1960s, a decade of mostly great pitching, facing Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale and Bob Gibson, should be factored heavily whenever Mays is compared to today's players (in the decade of the '60s, only five times did a team score 20 runs in a game. In 1999 alone, it happened nine times).
Those who played with him say he was the best baserunner of his time -- 338 steals, and the ability to go from first to third in a flash.
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Willie on the all-time lists
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Category
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Total
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Rank
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OF putouts
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7,095
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1st
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Home runs
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660
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3rd
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Total bases
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6,066
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3rd
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Extra-base hits
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1,323
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4th
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Runs scored
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2,062
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6th
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Games played
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2,992
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7th
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Runs batted in
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1,903
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8th
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Hits
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3,283
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10th
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At-bats
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10,881
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10th
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"He's the best major-league baseball player I've ever seen," said Buck O'Neil, a former Negro League star.
What set Mays apart from others, even the greatest hitter ever, Ted Williams, was the position he played, and the way he played that position. The best defensive center fielder ever is, like the best shortstop ever, often more revered than the best at other positions.
One can argue the merits of many center fielders in history, especially Richie Ashburn, but it's hard to believe that anyone was better than Mays. He won the last of his 10 Gold Gloves in 1968 at age 37 (Arizona's Steve Finley, at 35, is the second oldest center fielder to win one); to be playing center field that well, at that age, is incredible.
If Willie Mays played today, he would be a Gold Glove center fielder who, most former players agree, would hit 50 to 60 homers a year. Is he properly embraced by baseball lore? Does he get his just due for the player he was? Probably. He would be even more revered except that he has a private side, an abrasive side, as does Williams, as did DiMaggio and other greats in baseball history. But that's not something to hold against Mays, or any other player.
Some active players, including Houston's Jeff Bagwell, rightfully argue that because of baseball's rich tradition, today's players are not allowed to be as good as the best of the past. It's an interesting and valid point, but isn't that the ultimate beauty of the game? It's the only major sport where the best players of 20, 50, 90 years ago can still be compared to today's players. It's the only team sport that even resembles the way it was played in the early 1900s.
Who knows, maybe Ken Griffey Jr. is as good as Willie Mays was. But as the great Giants outfielder turns 70, it's hard to be believe that anyone alive was better than him.
ESPN The Magazine's Tim Kurkjian is a regular contributor to ESPN.com.
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