Aaron or Mays?

[tjenkins]

Originally Posted by JoeyFarino

Mays was not clearly the better player and im surprised when people say that. Aaron was a beast and had nearly the same playing ability as Mays

I have a tendency to agree with this post! Hank Aaron's career major hitting stats all surpass Willie Mays. I counted Hank Aaron as playing 23 years and Mays for 21 (minus 2 years military service). I believe Mays missed part of the 1952 season and all of the 1953 when figuring average yearly stats. I think we can safely say he was a little better hitter. Mays was the better fielder and base runner but to follow the OP line of thinking Hank Aaron will always be my favorite, next to Harmon Killebrew of course!

Hank Aaron (23 yrs)
Batting Average .305 (plus 3 points)
Hits 3,771 (plus 488), yearly average 163
RBI 2,297 (plus 394), yearly average 100
HR 755 (plus 95), yearly average 33

Willie Mays (21 years)
Batting Average .302
Hits 3,283, yearly average 156
RBI 1,903, yearly average 91
HR 660, yearly average 31

[Rookiemonster]

Mays was not one of the best center fielders of all time . He was the best centerfielder of all time ! Oh wait there was no other great CF playing when he was right ? But Clemente took all the shine from Aaron ? NOWAY!

When talking about thee greatest singal player of all time Aaron is not in the debate . It's always between Ruth and Mays .


Here’s one comparison with Aaron, using the number of runs created (the old Bill James stat) per season, starting with the best season of each player’s career, going to second-best, third-best and so on.



Aaron eventually passed Mays -- but it took him 13 seasons to do it. And remember that Mays missed nearly two full seasons while in the Army early in his career; the first year he returned he won the MVP Award. The point is: When you're a tad bit better than Hank Aaron and played one of the most important defensive positions and played 150-plus games 13 consecutive seasons ...