1973 METS - Say Hey! Willie's Playing Wonderfully!
Having played spring training in Arizona his entire career with the Giants, Willie Mays plays in Florida with the Mets for the first time
INTRODUCTION from The Sports Time Traveler™
1973 Mets are in the middle of spring training right now 50 years ago.
The big story for the past week involves the biggest name on the team - Willie Mays.
I’m back from a virtual trip to St. Pete in 1973 to cover the Mets (and an actual trip to St. Pete in 2023 as well).
Here’s my story that covers the past week for the 1973 Mets.
ST. PETERSBURG, FL - March 23, 1973
It makes for a quirky bit of trivia. Willie Mays never played in a major league baseball game in Florida until this year, at nearly 42 years old. His old team, the Giants, played spring training in Arizona every year that Willie was on the team from 1951 - 1972.
On March 13th, Mays was ready to play his first spring training game for the New York Mets, his first game ever in the state of Florida. And against who else - his long time nemesis the Dodgers.
Before the game, sports columnist Frank Dolson heard Dodgers long time manager Walt Alston yelling out to Willie, “You going to play this year?”
Willie shot back, “Everybody asks me that. You trying to get me to quit?”
Dolson commented about this exchange, “The smile indicated he was kidding. But the eyes said something else. It isn’t easy for a future hall of famer, a man who has spent two decades in the major leagues, to acknowledge that the fun and games are about to end.”
But perhaps not just yet.
Mays is beginning his test to see if he can still play. If he decides he can play, he will be the part-time centerfielder for the Mets. If he decides he can’t, he will retire and take up a coaching job with the club.
The Mets are leaving the decision up to Mays himself.
Dolson commented further, “Hasn’t Willie Mays earned the right to decide for himself if he can still play the game?”
Willie started in centerfield for the Mets on this day.
Pitching for the Dodgers was Claude Osteen, a 20 game winner in 1972.
Mays First Spring Training Trip to the Plate in Florida
In his 1st at bat in the bottom of the 1st, at the Mets home in St. Pete, Al Lang Field, Mays hit Osteen’s 2nd pitch deep into left field. The ball sailed over the head of left fielder Steve Garvey. On one hop the ball smacked against the fence.
Frank Dolson wrote, “20 feet from 2nd base Mays ran out from under his batting helmet. See. Same old Willie.”
In the 3rd inning May struck out. But in the 5th he hit, “a vicious line drive into the 3rd baseman’s (Ron Cey’s) glove”, according to Dolson.
In the field, Mays got one chance. Dolson described the play, “Osteen lifted a soft, routine fly to center. Instantly the crowd came to life. There was a cheer when the ball left the bat. A murmur swept through the stands as Mays coasted under it. ‘Watch him,’ the older timers were telling the kids. ‘Watch how he catches it.’ Mays caught it easily, his hands cupped at his waist, and the people reacted as if he had done something very special.”
It was a classic Willie Mays basket catch.
After 5 innings Mays was done for the day. And it was a special day for Willie Mays. He had passed his first test of whether he could still play. In those 5 innings, the fans got to see Mays exhibit 4 of the 5 tools (hitting, hitting for power, running the bases and fielding) that made Willie Mays one of the game’s only complete 5 tool players. The only tool they didn’t see that day was his sensational throwing arm.
Willie Mays Batting after Game 1: 1 for 3 (.333)
Mays took the day off on the 14th, but on March 15th he started in centerfield and went 1 for 3 again against the Dodgers in an away game at Vero Beach. Mays’ hit came in the 1st inning against Andy Messersmith who had a 2.81 ERA in 21 starts for the Angels in 1972.
Willie Mays Batting after Game 2: 2 for 6 (.333)
The next day Berra started Mays again, his 3rd start in 4 days. The game was against the Braves in West Palm Beach.
This marked the 1st time that Willie Mays and Hank Aaron played on the same field in Florida.
In the first inning Mays faced Pat Dobson, a winner of 36 games in the past 2 seasons with an ERA under 2.80. Mays drilled the first pitch into center for a single.
In the 5th inning he faced faced Craig Morton, the former ace of the Expos staff, and hit his first pitch for a single.
Mays had 2 of the Mets 7 hits as they won the game 2 - 1.
Even better, Mays played without his knee braces for the 2nd straight day, “because the knees feel good,” Mays told the New York Daily News.
Willie Mays Batting after Game 3: 4 for 9 (.444)
After a day off, the next game was on March 18th back in St. Pete, and it was the 1st spring training game Willie played in that was televised in New York.
Playing against the 1972 pennant winners, the Cincinnati Reds, Mays again started in centerfield, batting 3rd.
In the 4th inning, Mays faced right hander Pedro Borbon, a relief pitcher who had appeared in 62 games in 1972 with an 8 - 3 record. He had also pitched in 6 of the 7 games in the World Series.
With the count 0 and 1, New York Times writer Joseph Durso described the next play, “(Mays) lifted the 0 and 1 pitch from Pedro Borbon over the left field screen. He received a standing ovation from the 4,703 customers in Al Lang field.”
That was all for Mays on this day.
Jon Matlack was beat up by the Reds machine and lasted just 3 of a planned 5 innings en route to an 8 - 3 Mets loss.
After the game, Mets manager Yogi Berra had this to say about Mays, “If his knees hurt with all this work he would tell me. It was my own idea to play him 3 out of 4. You’ve got to find out about him and he’s got to see the pitching,”
Willie Mays Batting after Game 4: 5 for 11 (.455)
After a couple of days off, Mays was out in centerfield again on March 21st against the Yankees at the Mets spring training home in Al Lang field.
On the mound for the Yankees was Fritz Peterson, a 17 game winner in 1972 and more recently the man involved in the most bizarre trade in baseball history. 2 weeks earlier Peterson announced that he and a fellow Yankees pitcher, Mike Kekich, were trading wives. Each of the pitchers was divorcing his wife to marry the other’s wife.
In the 3rd inning, Mays came to bat against Peterson and hit his 2nd home run in 2 games. Mays also hit two hard outs against Peterson in his other 2 at bats.
Willie Mays Batting after Game 5: 6 for 14 (.429) with 2 HRs and a double
After 5 games the question of whether Willie Mays can still play has been answered. Dick Young, writing yesterday in the New York Daily News said, “the answer of the moment seems to be yes. Yes, Willie Mays will play. Yes, he will open in center against Steve Carlton on April 6. Willie is stinging the ball. The knees have held up. The braces have been discarded by Mays.”
POSTSCRIPT from the The Sports Time Traveler™
Al Lang field is no longer the Mets spring training home. They have a beautiful facility, a shrine to the Mets team history, in Port St. Lucie, a little ways north of West Palm Beach now.
But Al Lang field still stands in St. Pete. It’s presently the home of the Tampa Bay Rowdies soccer team that plays in the United Soccer League.
I made a pilgrimage to Al Lang field recently to honor the 50 years since Willie Mays played his only spring training in Florida with the Mets back in 1973.
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