European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 12, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday june 12, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 23 commentary Willie was one a Mays no player the Man i Nirie across the Able from me was the greatest ballplayer Many of us will Ever see. There were Guys who got More hits Guys who got More homers Guys who stole More bases Bat led in More runs Bui nobody Ever put it All together the Way Willie Mays did. Nobody who Ever put on a Glove did the things with it he did. He made Center Field the Bermuda Triangle of baseball. He caught and hit More Home runs than any other Man who Ever played inc game. You look at Willie Mays and you know he could t he anything else but a ballplayer. God anticipated him. The body is hard and muscled and com pact a Man s body. But the face is a Little Hoy s. Von want to buy him a balloon. Tycobb played out of Hale Jackie Robinson wanted to gel even. Willie Mays played out of love. He could Light up a Ballpark. Not Many people know it but Willie was almost a loner off the Field. He led the league in dining alone in his room. Hut Willie came alive when the stands were full the game was on and he stood in Center Field about to give some of the greatest Solo performances any show business has Ever seen. What Center Sunc was to Caruso Center Field was to Willie Mays. It Wisn l a game it was a symphony. If it stayed in the air Willie caught it or hit it. Energy just rippled off him. Don Drysdale used to say of Henry Aaron that trying to smuggle a fastball past him was like trying to smuggle Sunrise past a rooster. Well smuggling a curve Bali by Willie was like trying to sneak a Steak past a lion he once got four Home runs in one game and narrowly missed a fifth. He stole five bases in on game and once threw a runner out at every base including first and Home m one game. He did t play baseball he re defined it. There arc three leagues Herman Franks used to say the american the National and Willie i never saw Willie Mays make the third out in the last in Ning of an i important game. In the 1962 playoffs against los Angeles Willie came to hat against the dodgers who were leading 4 2, with two outs in the ninth. Willie smashed the key single that kept the rally going and eventually the giants won the Pennant. In the world series that year Willie came up in the Bottom of the ninth in game 7 with two outs and Matty Alou on base and smashed a double to right that i and Willie always thought should have tied the score. But Alou would t Chance it. With Willie Mccovey and Orlando Cepida due up and stopped at third. Willie s numbers were ruthian 660 homers. 3,281 Nils 1,903 runs baited in 2.062 runs scored 523 doubles 140 triples. The most May sever got for those kinds of Aggregates was 1180,000 a year. Willie never held out. He was afraid they would t let him play. Willie did t play Wilh the loping Grace of dimag Gio or the effortless Glide of Henry Aaron. Wilie went after the Ball like a Kitten after yarn. Willie gave them a show for their Money. I like to feel i played for inc fans he says. I loved the fans he purposely Lei his Cap Fly off he circled under a Ball to get leverage for a throw he was like a Juggler who pretends to drop plates to get your alien Basket catch was just part of the repertoire. Wil lie could have caught the Ball Wilh his feet if they wanted him to. Willie has a new Book out. Say hey the autobiography of Willie written with Lou Shadi. La s As much fun As watching Willie pull Down Vic Wertz s line drive with his Back to Home plate 4su feel away or seeing Willie pulling Sandy Koufax fastball up into the candlestick wind. There is a tendency in sports literature if Ria s not an oxymoron to end All today to do what White House memoirist Are prone to do scarily the great Industry icy re leaving. Willie Mays will have none of that. It s not that he won l chronicle the disagreements lie had with fellow players managers like Clyde King or even s just that Willie loves baseball and feels he owes it something besides the Back of his hand. Willie s Book is about the Joy of baseball not the warts. It like being 20 years younger and you re facing Sal Maglic again and the Ball is coming right at your head and you scramble and fall Down to escape it and the Umpire. . Goes out to have a talk Wilh Sal the Barber. When he comes Back you say to the ump what did he say and Gorman replies. He says to Tell you he s pm the next pitch. May hits a Home run and As herons pail Maglie on his Way around inc bases he looks Over. I m sorry too he says. The game belongs on the financial pages now but nobody talked of Money when Willie played he played it for the same reason kids used to Hunt frogs or shoot marbles. They invented baseball for people like Willie Mays. We were Lucky to have him. He s what the game is All about. He s whal we Are All about his Book is assure Mays As running Down and catching a Ihrcke base hit in the Gap and doubling a runner off third. All blames crowds for his slurring Washington a Muhammad Ali says crowds like those that once made him feel he could float like a Butterfly Sling like a Bee and not the Park Inson s syndrome from which he suffers cause him occasionally to slur and stumble when he Speaks. When it s crowded i feel pressure and 1 just can t project the three Lime heavy weight boxing Champion said in an inter View published in thursday s editions of the Washington Post i bet you re surprised i m talking this Good All said to a Post reporter during the Telephone interview. See i m not stupid. I m no brain dam aged. The mind is Good the difference now is that 1 Don t feel so Ali was in Washington to attend a Capi Tol Hill news conference to announce the appointment of a Friend Stephen Saltz Burg to a Justice department Post. God gave me this physical impair mint to remind me that i am not the greatest. He is said Ali of the Parkin son s syndrome that has afflicted him. Ali Lold the newspaper he must Lake medication every three hours to relieve some of the symptoms. Ali also spoke of the frustration he feels when he is incapable of demonstrating 10 people that he is not brain dam aged. He said he is Hurt when people talk about him in his presence As if he does t understand them. Doctors have said All s illness is a progressive neurological degeneration related to Parkinson s disease that was caused by blows he suffered from boning. The disease causes the body s Muscles to be unresponsive making it hard to move and some Hagler still on the screen but not in the boxing ring Appolo sex he a weight Champ Muhammad Ali. I m not brain damaged times causing the slurred speech. During the interview Ali spoke of Jesse Jackson s presidential Campaign and soviet Leader Mikhail Gorbachev. I like Jesse bul i think his timing s off he said. He needs 10 prove that he is no just a cheerleader. He should run for office and get himself elected governor or sen Ator. I think it s too big a responsibility for him to be the Leader or the free world right out of the starting about Gorbachev Ali said if in s All a Sho he s a belter actor than Ronald Rea . A sport writer for months after his loss to sugar Ray Leonard marvelous Marvin Hagler was an angry Man ready to lash out Ai life Wilh lied hands. The ring was his world. Suddenly the Shadow Over that world sugar Ray Leonard who won a 12-round split Deci Sion Over Hagler retreated in retire ment. Poor marvelous. Wait. In t that him staring at you with an incredulous look from a Magazine advert is mint for a deodorant captioned of fend a fellow human being me there is the Bald one on your to screen telling you about the importance of personal grooming at the same time he strolls through a country Garden. He car Ries a bouquet of Flowers. Soon hell be dashing about your neighbourhood on larger screens As a Green Bercy called sol. Steel in a film tilled India which was shot in the Philippines. Life after Leonard is vibrant again for Hagler. He still Hopes for a sugar Ray Plum in the future but his boxing so Cath tooth does t ache As it once did. I realize if in does t happen i Tan live Wilh in a relaxed Hagler said in an interview in my heart i want to fight again but my brain is saying be smart Marvin. Money in t everything if 1 retire there should be no coming Back but 1 would like to retire Wilh the Hagler whose admitted age is 34, fight again he says he will wait until after sunday when his brother Robbie Sims challenges Sumbu Karambay for the world boxing association Middle weight title in Ravenna Italy. Should Sims win Hagler would t fight him. However in seem be will come Back for at least a piece of the championship it once held without dispute even if he Means not fighting Leonard. There has never been a Champion prouder of being one than marvelous Marvin Tang scr. If it was me who won and there had been any controversy we would have done it Hagler said of his disputed loss 10 Leonard. Bul i Don t want to fight him without a title at slake. I d like him logo ahead and fight Heams or that s Thomas cams who before last week had lost Only twice 10 Leon Ard in 1981, and Hagler in 1983. On monday Hearns lost his third in a third round Power outage to Iran bark Ley. Barkley now owns the world boxing Council middleweight title even so. Cams has said he should gel a shot at either Hagler or Leonard before Hagler and Leonard fight each other Leonard is talking about fight ing again Hagler said. He a bad mouthing me now i the second statement sounds like something a flak would say. Ii is understood thai Leonard is thinking Aboul fighting again. The problem seems to be his reluctance to pay the Price again of preparing for another big fight. Hagler Leonard Hearns one of the great triangles in boxing history. One Leonard remains a figure whose Charisma extends beyond the Bounds of boxing. The second Hagler while Lack ing Leonard s Pizzazz is proving to him self his reputation can be translated into Oul of ring Success. The third Hearns. Is a thoughtful Man who should realize the biggest challenges of his life await him outside the ring. Hagler Leonard Hearns. It would be Nice if they would sit Back on their laurels and enjoy watching Mike Tyson
