The Players You Wish You Could Have Watched

06/22/2024 09:00 AM

Willie Mays' passing got me thinking about who I would have wanted to watch play, if I could.

Happy Saturday, Viva El Birdos!

And now onto something depressing.

Willie Mays passed away this week.

He was an all-time great. An all-time great among all-time greats. A legend among legends.

When I was young I used to talk baseball with the ol' timers. You know who they were. Your grandpa. Your dad. Your friends' dads. Your little league coaches. The older gang of guys who used to sit around the fire at our campsite at Table Rock Lake every night all summer talking about nothing and everything but mostly about baseball.

I learned a lot from those sage souls. One of the things that I learned was that Willie Mays was the best. Oh sure, Hank Aaron was amazing. He had the home run record. And no one wanted to disparage him even a little bit. And all those guys were Cardinals fans and had nothing but respect and love for Bob Gibson and Stan Musial.

But then there was Willie Mays. He was something just slightly more.

You heard much of the same sentiment echoed by the various guests during the Rickwood game.

Speaking of that, man, what a fun baseball game! Loved the ballpark. Loved the atmosphere. Loved the game itself. Loved the commentary and guests. That whole experience became a fitting tribute to a ball player who epitomized what it meant to be a ballplayer. I was glad that the Cardinals were a part of it.

Anyway, Mays was incredible. I've seen the highlights. I think I even watched him on a re-broadcast of one of those old home run derby events. It was in the early days of ESPN when they didn't have much content during the day. They used to run old black and white films of exhibition home run derbys featuring some of the best players of the 1940s and 50s. I can't be certain that I saw Mays. I think I did. I know I watched Mantle. And Aaron. And I'm pretty sure Mays was on one of them, too. (Someone who knows what I'm talking about please correct me if I'm wrong.)

But I never really got to watch Mays play real baseball. I really wish that I could have.

That got me thinking about other greats that I never got to see. And that led me to this Saturday post.

Let's pretend that Back to the Future is a true movie and, with a little help from Doc and the Libyans, you can take a Delorean back to see any baseball game or baseball player you want. You have an infinite supply of 1.21 gigawatts juice, so you don't have to limit yourself. You can go see whoever you want.

Who do you want to watch? Who makes your list?

I thought about making this a ranking, but that's silly. Feel free to debate whether you would go see Mays or Musial first. For most of us, the answer is just "yes". I would want to see them both. Actually, I would prefer to pick a game that both were in.

That game, by the way, would likely come in 1954. Mays was having one of his first truly incredible seasons. Musial was 33 but had not lost anything yet. That's probably where I would start.

So, here's my list. It's not complete. It's just a list made off the top of my head on a quiet Friday.

Here are the players I wish I could have watched play:

1. Willie Mays - I mentioned 1954. For fun, I looked into it. If I came back in the Delorean to late August of '54, I could catch the Giants take on the Cards in a 4-game set in StL. It starts with a 5-4 11th inning walk-off win by the Cardinals where both Mays and Musial hit homers. I would catch the whole series and then stick around for a few months to watch "the Catch" in the World Series.
2. Bob Gibson - 1968. I would catch as much of the season as I could leading to his World Series, 17-strikeout performance.
3. Stan Musial
4. Mickey Mantle
5. Ted Williams
6. Joe Dimaggio
7. Lou Gherig - I would want to watch him in his prime but also catch the speech later in his career.
8. Sandy Koufax
9. Babe Ruth
10. Rogers Hornsby

Your turn! I reserve the right to add or change other players as I put more thought into it, so don't bother telling me I'm wrong. I wasn't trying to make the perfect list. Just a list. It's good enough for now.

Speaking of which, I have sat on this for an hour and I already have an update. I would probably try to hit some of the Negro Leagues and catch Jackie Robinson, Satchel Paige, and Josh Gibson. Oh and Roberto Clemente because I suspect he was something to special to watch.

What would your list be? Why?

Enjoy your weekend, Cardinals fans!