Collecting Hank Aaron and Willie Mays

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by clydepepper

Jason - I'm glad I'm not the only Board member who realizes that.

Frankly, I was not aware that Mr. Mays had to deal with an abundance of BS over the course of his lengthy career. His managers all thought highly of him. As far as I know, his teammates liked him OK. The fans in New York particularly loved him. Frisco fans were expecting a kazillion home runs, etc. When the numbers were modest, Mr. Mays began to hear cascades of boos. Mr. Mays didn't cotton to that. Mr. Mays became quite disgruntled, and even coerced owner Horace Stoneham to move the fences in at Candlestick Park to accommodate his best power zone. With fences moved in, 40 homers became commonplace.

Then came the 1962 World Series. Lotsa pressure throughout the Series that took the full seven games to decide. Result: no home runs, 3 runs scored, batted .250, 1 RBI. Sour performance was not lost on the Frisco boo-birds. Mr. Mays was not the only Giant to not produce at crunch time. A young Willie McCovey hit .200, but he did hit a home run, and almost broke the decisive seventh game apart with his rifle shot right into Bobby Richardson's mitt. Be that as it may, Mays was by far the recognized leader of the Giants, and he failed. That's not my point here, for Willie made up for it with many more glorious seasons, and prodigious lifetime numbers that stand far above most who've played the game.

Fast forward to the 80s, 90s, and the new Miliennium. Collectors and fans wanted the autograph of Willie Mays, wanted to meet him for a few seconds, wanted to express in a few words how much he meant to them. Do ya think any of those Frisco boo-birds would pay 80 clams, or whatever it cost to get Mr. Mays's autograph?

Ha!

The people forming long lines to meet Willie Mays and buy his autograph were his many thousands of adoring fans, whether they saw him play, or brought a son or daughter to see their father's sports hero. THESE WERE THE PEOPLE WHO LOVED WILLIE, WHO PAID HIS SALARY, WHO WERE PULLING FOR HIM THROUGH THICK AND THIN.

So how does Mr. Mays respond to all this easy money and attention from his fans?

He showers them with rudeness, cold calculating rebuffs, and sends them away with crushed spirits, in shock and shaking their heads wondering, "WHAT DID I DO WRONG?" A very painful bad memory that will last them the rest of their life.

And you my fellow collectors have the temerity to defend such blatant disrespect and an ungrateful heart?

If your life is so colored by bitterness over failed marriages, and a career with so little bling, but then you take it out on the fans who loved you and are paying you serious money to meet you and get your autograph, there's nothing positive that can be said.

----Brian Powell