‘Now Playing In …’: Willie Mays’ Other Positions

Willie Mays played in more regular-season games in center field than anyone else in major-league baseball history (2,832). He also played 83 games at first base, 12 in right field, 2 in left field, 2 at shortstop, and 1 at third base. This article presents the positions in order by when Mays made his first regular-season appearance at each position.

Shortstop (2)

Mays made his first appearance at a position other than center field when he made his major-league shortstop debut on August 13, 1963, vs. the Cincinnati Reds at Crosley Field. It was his 1,651st career game, and he was filling in for Ernie Bowman. Manager Alvin Dark simply ran out of manpower, what with injuries and a suspension of Willie McCovey.1 Mays laughed and said, “Man, that’s too close to the hitter.”2 At the next locker, Norm Larker said, “If you think that’s too close, Willie, have you ever tried to hold a guy on at first base with McCovey hitting?”3

He made his other shortstop appearance in the second game of a doubleheader against the New York Mets at Shea Stadium on May 31, 1964. In the 23-inning game, Mays moved from center field to shortstop in the 10th inning, replacing Jim Davenport, and Matty Alou replaced Mays in center. Mays went back to center in the 13th and finished the game there.

First Base (83)

Mays made his first-base debut on May 1, 1964, vs. the Los Angeles Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. He started the game in center but was limping after a fly ball and was not running full speed after reaching on a single in his first plate appearance. In the second inning, Dark changed the outfield alignment. Mays was moved to first base, Jesus Alou went from right to center, McCovey moved from first to left, and Duke Snider went from left to right. “A man doesn’t have to move around too much at first base,” explained Dark, “and Willie wasn’t hurting so bad he had to leave the game. I wanted his bat in there. And besides, almost every day and night, Willie works out a little at first base. I knew he was a little familiar with the position.”4

In Mays’ first inning as a first baseman, he ran out to right field and retrieved an errant Jack Sanford pickoff throw attempt on John Roseboro. In the third, he tagged Willie Davis on another Sanford pickoff attempt. Mays got his first assist and double play when Ron Fairly’s groundball went to second baseman Chuck Hiller. Hiller threw to Mays for the first out, and Mays threw to shortstop Jose Pagan to complete the double play. He repeated what he said when he played shortstop in 1963 and added: “It was fun playing there. I’m always talkin’ to people and at first base there are more players around to talk to. In center field, you’re lonely.”5

Mays again played first base on July 21, 1968, in the second game of a doubleheader vs. the Houston Astros at Candlestick Park. McCovey, hampered by fluid on his right knee, sat out the game.6 Mays next played at first on June 15, 1969, in the second game of a home doubleheader vs. the Montreal Expos to again give McCovey a rest.

Mays also filled in at first for McCovey in 1970 for five games. For example, he played the first two games of a Giants-Dodgers road series in May because “McCovey was idled by his shoulder bruise.”7 On July 29, 1970, Mays played first vs. the Mets because McCovey “had to sit out the final game of the three in New York because of the pain.”8

Mays played a career-high 48 games at first base in 1971 because of McCovey’s various injuries. When Mays was acquired by the Mets on May 11, 1972, manager Yogi Berra told him that he would be used almost exclusively against left-handers at first base and some in the outfield to give Tommie Agee “occasional rest.”9 In seven of his nine starts at first base for the Mets, the opposing pitcher was left-handed.10

On August 3, 1973, Mays announced that he could no longer play in center because of his sore shoulder. “I can catch the fly balls and I can run,” he told writers. “But I can’t throw. I can throw, but I can’t throw hard.”11 Mays played 15 of his final 17 regular-season games in the field at first base with his last one on September 9 vs. the Expos at Jarry Park in Montreal. On September 20 Mays, “sidelined with two cracked ribs,”12 announced his retirement.

Third Base (1)

Mays made his only third-base appearance on August 26, 1964, vs. the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. He started the game in center field, but moved to third base in the bottom of the second inning “when rookie third baseman Jim Ray Hart was skulled by Dodger shortstop Maury Wills while trying to break up a double play at second base.”13 Mays was replaced in center by Matty Alou.

In the seventh, Mays went back to center, Alou went back to right, and Jim Davenport replaced Mays at third. In the ninth, Mays went back to third, Alou went back to right, and Davenport went back to shortstop. The Dodgers won in the bottom of the ninth, 2-1, on Doug Camilli’s two-out walk-off single to left. Altogether, Mays played six innings in his only major-league career appearance at third base.

Right Field (12)

Mays made his first appearance in right field on July 30, 1956, in the All-Star Game at Griffith Stadium in Washington. He remained in the game in center field in the fourth after pinch-hitting for the Cincinnati Reds’ Gus Bell. Mays was then moved from center to right in the fifth when the St. Louis Cardinals’ Stan Musial was moved right to left and Brooklyn Dodgers star Duke Snider was moved from left to center. Mays finished the game in right.

After 1,887 regular-season games in center field, Mays played right field on June 30, 1965, vs. the Astros in the Houston Astrodome. His first experience playing an outfield position other than center field was a painful one. Late in the game, he “pulled a muscle in his thigh, near the groin.”14 The Giants tied the game, 4-4, with a two-out, three-run rally in the eighth off starter Turk Farrell and reliever Claude Raymond. Mays began the rally with a single to left off Farrell, took third on McCovey’s single to right, and scored on Jim Ray Hart’s single to third baseman Ken Aspromonte. According to a San Francisco sportswriter, Mays “ran like crazy on Hart’s hit, and pulled up limping after crossing the plate.”15 Mays, who had been at his usual spot in center, was moved to right in the bottom of the eighth.

He went on to play 11 more games (all starts) in right from 1965 into 1969. Mays played his last two games in right in 1969, the first one on August 6 at Connie Mack Stadium in Philadelphia. Mays will remain in right field until his left knee, injured in a collision at the plate with catcher Randy Hundley, Chicago Cub catcher is completely sound, [Giants manager Clyde] King said.16

He started his final game in right field on August 8 against the St. Louis Cardinals in Candlestick Park. Mays did not finish the contest because he “left the game after six innings when his sore left knee began to bother him.”17 He returned to center on August 15 vs. the Chicago Cubs in Candlestick Park and played the remainder of the 1969 season there.

Left Field (2)

After 1,886 regular-season starts in center field, Mays started his first game other than in center on July 4, 1965, vs. the Cubs at Wrigley Field. He “had been slowed by a pulled groin muscle.”18 Mays “played there to cut down the running area because of a pulled muscle in the left groin, suffered in Houston [on June 30]”19 Matty Alou started in center. Herman Franks put the captain in left because he figured there would be less business than in center or right.20 Mays made six putouts in the 7-4 win.21

He made his other left-field appearance on September 7, 1966, vs. the Dodgers at Dodger Stadium. Mays once again “was aching with a painfully pulled groin muscle.”22 Before Willie Davis led off the eighth inning with a triple to center, Franks had rearranged his outfield. Ken Henderson came in to play center field, Ollie Brown moved from center field to right field, and Mays moved from right field to left field, replacing Jesus Alou. Pinch-hitter Tommy Davis lined out to Mays, scoring Willie Davis with game-tying run.

Mitch Chortkoff wrote in the San Francisco Examiner that “It wasn’t just that Willie made a sparkling catch of Tommy Davis’s shot, but that he then fired the ball all in one motion directly to the plate. The throw wasn’t in time, but that didn’t detract from the effort.”23 Franks reshuffled the outfield again in the ninth and Mays moved back to and finished the game in right.

As a center fielder, Mays took part in 59 double plays and had an overall .981 fielding percentage. Playing first base in 83 games, he logged 61 double plays and played the position almost as well as he had in center – with a .979 fielding percentage. At the other positions, he played fewer games – handling just one chance at third base and none in his brief time at shortstop. His fielding percentage was 1.000 in left field and .958 in right.

STEVEN M. GLASSMAN has been a SABR member since 1994 and is the secretary of the Connie Mack-Dick Allen Chapter. He wrote articles for Greatest Comeback Games and Baseball’s Biggest Blowout Games. Steven also contributed articles for the SABR Convention Games Project and the Century Committee for the 1921 season. Altogether, he has written six Games Project articles. Steven also wrote eight SABR Convention articles, most recently “The Hidden Potato Trick” (SABR 50). The Temple University graduate in sport and recreation management is currently the director of sports information at Manor College in Jenkintown, Pennsylvania. Steven is also an entertainment staff member/phanstormer for the Philadelphia Phillies, statistics crew member for the Trenton Thunder, and game day staff member for the Trenton Terror. He also serves as first-base coach/scorekeeper for his summer league softball team. Steven was also certified Microsoft Office Word 2016. He has attended Phillies games since the 1970s. Born in Philadelphia, Steven lives in Warminster, Pennsylvania.

 

SOURCES

In addition to the sources mentioned in the Notes, the author referred to Baseball-reference.com and Retrosheet.org for box scores, play-by-plays, and other pertinent information. The following websites were also consulted: Newspapers.com and SABR.org.

 

NOTES

1  Bob Stevens, “Giants Put ‘Handyman’ Mays at Short in Manpower Crisis,” The Sporting News, August 24, 1963: 9. McCovey was suspended two games and fined $50 for how he reacted to home-plate umpire Ed Vargo’s called third strike vs. the Phillies on August 11.

2  “Giants Put ‘Handyman’ Mays at Short in Manpower Crisis.”

3  “Giants Put ‘Handyman’ Mays at Short in Manpower Crisis.”

4  Bob Stevens, “Willie Makes Gateway Bow; ‘It’s Fun, So Chatty,’ He Says,” The Sporting News, May 16, 1964: 25.

5  “Willie Makes Gateway Bow.”

6  Harry Jupiter, “Mays Switched to Gateway So McCovey Could Rest,” The Sporting News, August 3, 1968: 7.

7  Pat Frizzell, “Stretch Swings a Sizzling Home Run, RBI Stick,” The Sporting News, May 30, 1970: 15.

8  Pat Frizzell, “Juan Reels In and Starts Over After Seeing Old Movie,” The Sporting News, August 15, 1970: 18. The author also wrote that McCovey was “missing several games with his arthritic right knee and hamstring injury in his right leg.”

9  Jack Lang, “Mets Guarantee Lifetime Security for Mays,” The Sporting News, May 27, 1972: 24. He would platoon with Ed Kranepool at first base.

10 Mays’ first start at first base vs. a right-handed pitcher was against the Atlanta Braves’ Phil Niekro on June 2, 1972, at Shea Stadium. The other was vs. the Chicago Cubs’ Burt Hooton on September 16, 1972, at Wrigley Field.

11 Jack Lang, “Career in Center Field May Be Over for Mays,” The Sporting News, August 18, 1973: 26.

12 Jack Lang, “Mays Ends ‘a 22-Year Love Affair,’” The Sporting News, October 6, 1973: 3.

13 Bob Stevens, “Giants Look to Japan for Mound Help,” The Sporting News, September 12, 1964: 19.

14 Harry Jupiter, “Astros ‘Wynn’ 6-4,” San Francisco Examiner, July 1, 1965: 61.

15 “Astros ‘Wynn’ 6-4.”

16 James K. McKee, “Marichal Is Giants’ No. 1 Worry,” San Francisco Examiner, August 7, 1969: 54.

17 James K. McKee, “Slider Fools Giants,” San Francisco Examiner, August 9, 1969: 29.

18 “Mays Starts in Left Field for First Time in Majors,” The Sporting News, July 17, 1965: 42.

19 Edward Prell, “Giants’ Rally Defeats Cubs,” Chicago Tribune, July 5, 1965: Section 3, 2.

20 Harry Jupiter, “J. Alou Sparks 7-4 Victory Over Cubs,” San Francisco Examiner, July 5, 1965: 55.

21 Two of the Cubs’ seven hits were hit in Mays’ direction. Glenn Beckert’s first-inning leadoff double went to left-center and Don Landrum followed with a home run to left-center off Ron Herbel. Matty Alou had three putouts in center, and three of the Cubs’ hits were hit in his direction. Jesus Alou had four putouts and six of the Cubs’ hits were hit in his direction.

22 Harry Jupiter, “How Mays Fooled L.A.,” San Francisco Examiner, September 8, 1966: 53.

23 Mitch Chortkoff, “Roseboro’s Explanation,” San Francisco Examiner, September 8, 1966: 53.