a Legend has passed... at age 93.
I grew up in NYC as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan... hated the Yankees, but always liked Willie as a rival Giant... who as a young player recently moved up to the majors, often out there playing stickball (broom stick handle bat, spalding rubber ball) having fun out there on the street with the neighborhood kids when not in the Polo grounds or on the road. A nice guy and a true gentleman. And I still remember that classic thing of pure beauty... his overhead/overshoullde 'Catch', his back to the path of the ball... while running deep, deep, into the depths of the polo grounds center field. I'll be watching for another replay of that catch... which I predict will be played sometime during the Thursday Rickwood field game between the Giants and Cardinals.
And of course when I came to the Bay Area, had to shift my loyalties to the Giants. He did play for the Mets in a late career return to New York.
I grew up in NYC as a Brooklyn Dodgers fan... hated the Yankees, but always liked Willie as a rival Giant... who as a young player recently moved up to the majors, often out there playing stickball (broom stick handle bat, spalding rubber ball) having fun out there on the street with the neighborhood kids when not in the Polo grounds or on the road. A nice guy and a true gentleman. And I still remember that classic thing of pure beauty... his overhead/overshoullde 'Catch', his back to the path of the ball... while running deep, deep, into the depths of the polo grounds center field. I'll be watching for another replay of that catch... which I predict will be played sometime during the Thursday Rickwood field game between the Giants and Cardinals.
And of course when I came to the Bay Area, had to shift my loyalties to the Giants. He did play for the Mets in a late career return to New York.
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