The Star Press from Muncie, Indiana • Page 32

SECTION PAGE 6 THE AAUNCIE STAR, SUNDAY, AUGUST 5, 1979 Sl -fc'-f IMqIm ey jtam llIIMMnl record for most runs batted in for a single season and Mays is only the ninth player in history to be voted into the shrine in his first year of eligibility. (UPI Photo) NEW MEMBERS Three important enshrinees will go into the baseball hall of fame today during ceremonies in Cooperstown, N.Y. From left those to be honored are Hack Wilson, Warren Giles and Willie Mays. Giles was president of the National League for 18 years, Wilson holds the Mays, Wilson, Giles Formidable Trio for This Year's Hall of Fame Entry Mays. Greatness Recalled By FRED DOWN UPI Sports Writer COOPERSTOWN, N.Y.

Notes, quotes and anecdotes about the glory of Willie Mays' time: Members of that grand old gang of New York Giants and Brooklyn Dodgers who electrified baseball in the 1950s agree that Willie Mays' 1954 World Series catch on Vic Wertz was his most famous but not his best. His best, they agree, was made against Bobby Morgan of the Dodgers in a game of Ebbets Field in 1952. Mays caught Morgan's line drive in right center field, and turning on the run, threw out Billy Cox at home plate. "You could not make that play again if you had a million chances," says Bobby Thomson. "It was so ridiculous that (Dodger Manager) Charlie Dressen commented after the game, 'I'd like to see him do it Mays' catch on Wertz occurred in the first game of the 1954 World Series between the Giants and Cleveland Indians.

There were runners on first and second when Wertz hit a 475-foot drive over Willie's head toward the center field bleachers in the old Polo Grounds. Fleeing with his back to the infield, Mays caught the ball like an end catching a pass in full flight. He whirled in the same motion and threw back to the infield so fast that only the runner on second base advanced after the catch. "You reporters made so much of that catch," recalls Hall of Famer Roy Campanella. "You'd think he didn't make catches like that all the time." Monte Irvin and Don Mueller, who flanked the young Mays in left and right fields, respectively, on the Giants recall that Manager Leo Durocher ordered that they allow Willie to make the play on all balls catchable in the left and right center field power alleys.

"That was okay with us," says Irvin. "He was young and wanted to run so Don and I gave him all the room he wanted. We didn't call for any balls. We just called out, 'Plenty of room, Willie, it's all "Willie once told me that everybody knew he was the best center fielder in the league," recalls Mueller. "But few people realized he also was the best right fielder." "I'll cherish the memory of those Dodger-Giant games forever," says Duke Snider.

"I remember the time Carl Furillo had Durocher on the grass and was choking him. I was standing right there. Durocher was gasping, 'Let go, Carl, let when one of the umpires leaned over the said, 'Kill him, "The tension was greater than in World Series games," continues Snider. "The Dodgers were the better team but with Mays in center field and Durocher in the dugout you never could tell what would happen." Mays' special ability to transmit excitement to crowds was so natural that he couldn't really explain it himself. "I think I did have as much fun as the fans," he says.

"It is difficult to relate the concept of fun with thousands of fans. I never worried about the people who watched me play. I enjoyed what I was doing. The fans appreciate anyone who tries his best. That's what they pay to see.

"I think it's harder to get hits today than when I broke in because the pitching is stronger, especially the relievers," Mays says. "In the old days, 100 runs in six seasons and had lifetime totals of .307 and 244 homers. A career executive who died last February at the age of 82, Giles became the NL's president after serving as general manager of the Cincinnati Reds from 1936 to 1951. His greatest contribution was in strengthening the authority of the League's umpires and of winning them many benefits. Former umpire Jocko Conlan called Giles, "the best friend the umpres ever had" at his own induction into the Hall.

Mays, ninth man elected to the shrine the first time he was on the Baseball Writers Association of America ballot, was a magnificent fielder and a composite offensive player who ranked third on the all-time list in both homers and total bases, fourth in both at-bats and runs scored and seventh in both hits and runs batted in. "Willie Mays combined the skills of fielding, throwing, running, hitting for distance and hitting for average better than anyone else in the history of baseball," says Leo Durocher, Mays' manager with the Giants in 1951 and a veteran of 50 years in baseball. "For my money, he was the best." "I haven't really given it much thought," says Mays when asked how he felt on the eve of his induction. "Fellows like Bob Lemon and Robin Roberts have told me it was the same with them. The impact of the honor didn't hit them until they actually were being inducted.

I guess it will be the same with me." Separating the life and the legend is a job for the men who played with and against him men like Bobby Thomson, Roy Campanella, Feewee Reese, Duke Snider and Don Newcombe all veterans of those memorable Giant-Dodger clashes of the 1950s which produced some of the most exciting baseball ever played. The historic intra-city rivalry was Intensified by the exceptional talents of the rival players and constantly fanned by Managers Durocher of the Giants and Charlie Dressen of the Dodgers. It was into this atmosphere of hypertension that the 20-year old Mays stepped in 1951 and began the journey which took him to the Hall of Fame. By FRED DOWN UPI Sports Writer COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. Willie Mays will be formally cloaked Sunday in the robe of baseball immortality to which he was the manner born.

The one-time Say Hey Kid from Westfield, who for 22 seasons personified imperishable youth and the joy of playing baseball, will be inducted into the Hall of Fame along with the late Hack Wilson, holder of two of the game's most imposing records, and Warren Giles, president of the National League for 18 years, in televised ceremonies outside the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum. In the little village where the game supposedly was invented by Abner Doubleday, Commissioner Bowie Kuhn will preside over the program which will be graced by some 20 Hall of Famers and who's who of baseball royalty. The ceremonies are scheduled for 2:30 p.m., EDT, with the delayed telecasts scheduled for ABC-Tv's Monday night game and NBC-TV for the following Saturday's game. CBS radio also will cover. May's induction climaxes a career during which the former New York and San Francisco Giant and New York Met had a .302 lifetime batting average, won two Most Valuable Player awards, made 3,283 hits, played in 24 All-Star games, placed third on the all-time list with 660 home runs and became recognized by many experts as the greatest all-around player in the game's history.

For all his accomplishments, however, Mays is best remembered for a charisma which the late columnist Jimmy Cannon once summed up with the comment, "Watching Willie Mays play baseball is like watching a pretty girl run barefoot through a meadow." A biographer went even further with the astonishing observation that Mays was "something that connected the administration of five presidents" from Truman to Nixon. And, in reality, the man was almost as good as the myth. Wilson, who had a turbulent career (1923-34) because of an alcohol problem and died broke in 1948, set the National League record of 56 homers in one season and the major league mark of 190 RBI with the Cubs in 1930. He hit more than 20 homers and drove in over May's contagious enthusiasm made him an immediate favorite with the players and fans. His startling defensive plays and free-wheeling style brought fans into the parks just for the fun of watching him play.

And his quick bat stamped him as a potential great. Mays' arrival enabled Durocher to switch Thomson to third base and rounded out the team which rallied from 1314 games behind on Aug. 11 to win the pennant on Thomson's famous playoff homer against the Dodgers. "We knew Willie's credentials before he joined us in 1951 and that he had to be something special," says Thomson. "Still, he was a very young and scared kid typical of any other youngster.

He made a good start in 1951 although he contributed more with his glove than his bat. "He really started to do things after he came out of the Army in 1953," Thomson continues. "By 1954 he was doing ridiculous things. I mean that catch on Bobby Morgan and doubling Billy Cox at the plate. You just can't do that." "I was fortunate enough to play with and against Mays, Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider and I always thought they were the greatest outfielders of my time," says Campanella.

"But Willie was the only one who could cover centerfield In the Polo Grounds from second base to the clubhouse. "When Mays was on the field, you had the feeling anything could happen," adds Campanella. "I remember the first time I saw him. We (the Baltimore Elite Giants) were playing the Birmingham Black Barons. Willie was just a kid running around in center field.

In the first Inning, we got a run- ner to third with one out. The batter hit a fly to center and we said, okay, we're ahead 1-0. Well, Willie caught that ball and then he threw it over the cutoff man down the middle of the pitchers mound on a fly to the catcher. Our runner was out by 10 feet! We couldn't believe it." "Willie also was fortunate to come up under a manager like Durocher," points out Campanella. "That Leo, he had some brain.

He took Willie under his wing and he helped him a lot." "That description by Jimmy Cannon is super," says Reese. "DiMaggio was my idol as a young man but you gotta separate Mays from the rest of them. He could hurt you so many ways. When the Dodgers played the Giants and he was on the field any crazy thing could happen. Just to look at Sal Maglie was to hate him.

And when you looked at Willie you wondered what he could do next. He played the outfield like an in-fielder." "He didn't always hurt us the most but we feared him the most," says Snider. "His all-around skills made him great. He was the finished product the all-around player." "All I know is that this guy (Mays) was the greatest," says Newcombe. "As a pitcher, you pitched him low and away and hoped.

You knew he would get his share of hits. But he didn'l let his greatness make him forget people. That's the greatest tribute I can pay to Willie the man. He still has that concern for people. He did a lot of things for people that nobody ever heard about." Mays was brought up by his Aunt Sarah, sister of Willie's father, in Fairfield, Ala.

His father was an amateur pitcher and encouraged Willie to play all sports especially baseball. Willie played on community teams and, at 14, was a pitcher. Once he pitched nine innings and hit a home run to win a Babe Ruth League game. It was in 1949 that scouts Bill Harris and Ed Montague went to Birmingham to scout a first baseman playing for the Black Barons. They took one look at Mays and forgot about the first baseman.

"You've got to get this boy," the scouts wired the Giants' front office. "Don't ask any questions. Just go get him." The owner of the Black Barons had been offered $7,500 by the Milwaukee Braves for Mays. The Giants upped the offer to $10,000 and Tom Hayes accepted on the spot. Mays broke into organized baseball with Trenton in the Interstate League in 1950 and batted .353 in 81 games.

He was hitting .477 for Minneapolis after 35 games in 1951 when the call came from Giants clubowner Horace Stoneham summoning Willie to his destiny. Wilson 's Record Remains COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (UPI) -Hack Wilson was an odd looking (5-6 and 200 pounds) outfielder with four major league teams whose life was tormented by a drining problem but the two records he takes with him into the Hall of Fame are among the most impressive In baseball. It Is 49 years since Wilson set the National League record of 56 homers and the major league mark of 190 runs batted in for the Chicago Cubs in 1930. The home run record hasn't been seriously challenged since 1949 and the RBI mark hasn't been approached since 1937.

Wilson's NL home run record was seriously challenged only in 1949 when Ralph Kiner of the Pittsburgh Pirates hit 54. Kiner recalls that he went into the last 10 games of the season with a chance to tie or break the record but went into a slump. American Leaguers have surpassed Wilson's 56 five times. Roger Maris hit 61 in the 1961, Babe Ruth hit 60 in 1927 and 59 in 1921 and Jimmy Foxx and Hank Greenberg hit 58 in 1932 and 1938 respectively. Wilson's RBI record was last challenged in 1937 and seems almost as unapproachable as hitting .400 (Ted Williams, 1941, is the majors' only .400 hitter since Bill Terry hit .401 in 1930).

Hack's RBI mark was set in 1930 at a time when the new concentration on homer-hitting, a livelier ball, the little old parks and perhaps the absence of strong relief pitching produced a large number of home run and RBI feats. The two challenges to Wilson's RBI record came in 1931 when Lou Gehrig knocked in 184 runs and in 1937 whem Greenberg drove in 183. Since then, the closest anyone has come was 175 by Foxx in 1938 and no major leaguer has knocked in 150 or more since Tommy Davis of the Los Angeles Dodgers drove In 153 in 1962. A native of Elwood City, Wilson played with the Cubs, New York Giants, Brooklyn Dodgers and Philadelphia Phillies for a total of 12 years from 1923 through 1934 and had a .307 lifetime average and 244 career homers. He never came closer than 17 homers and 31 RBI of approaching his own record totals and both those efforts came in 1929 when he hit 39 homers and drove in 159 runs.

He was ignored over the years by the Veterans Committee of The Baseball Writers Association because of the inconsistent nature of his career. As the two records especially the RBI mark stood over the years, however, growing pressure was placed on the committee to consider the merits of the star-crossed slugger. Members of the committee finally decided to overlook the weaknesses which marred his life and honor a man who for a few brief seasons terrorized pitchers on a Ruth-like scale. Hack Wilson could handle 'em all except Mr. Booze.

Shrine 1 nvia COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. (UPI) -Hall of Fame trivia quiz prepared by Bill Guilfoile, the baseball shrine's director of public relations: 1. Who was the Cubs, third baseman in the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance infield? 2. Which two Hall of Famers spent a combined total of 41 years in the majors, all for the same team and mostly as teammates, yet never played in a World Series game? 3. What Hall of Famer had over 100 RBI in a season without hitting a home run? 4.

What was the only time a team and all its individual players had the same batting average after a game as they did before it? 5. Who was the only major leaguer to actually play baseball in Cooperstown (Exclusive of the annual Hall of Fame game)? 6. What numbers did these Yankee Hall of Famers wear when they first came up to the majors Mickey Mantle, Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio? 7. What Hall of Famer was the youngest player ever to hit 50 or more home runs in a single major league season? 8. Who was the only batter Stan Mu-sial pitched to in the majors? 9.

What two Hall of Fame pitchers made their last major league appearance against one another? 10. Who was active as player for the most years in organized baseball? (Editors note: Don't be discouraged if you don't do well on the quiz. Willie Mays, to be inducted Into the Hall of Fame Sunday, probably couldn't answer No. 7 himself) Answers: 1. Harry Steinfeldt.

2. Ted Lyons and Luke Appling. 3. Hughie Jennings in 1896. 4.

The 1940 Chicago White Sox won were no-hit on opening day by Bob Feller. 5. Jack Chesbro, who pitched for a semi-pro team In Cooperstown In 1896. 6. Mantle No.

6, Berra No. 35 and DiMaggio No. 9. 7. Willie Mays hit 51 in 1955 at the age of 24.

8. Chicago Cubs outfielder Frankie Baumholtz, who was safe on an error on the last day of the 1952 season. 9. Christy Mathewson vs. Mordecai Brown, Sept.

4, 1916. 10. James "Orator" O'Rourke, 36 years from 1872 through 1907. Baseball Shrine Celebrates 40th Anniversary teams had two or three good starters and maybe one fastball pitcher in the bullpen. "Now," says Willie, "Every team has four or five strong starters and the guys coming out of the bullpen are young and throw hard." Asked about the strategy of intenlon-ally walking Mays to get at either Orlando Cepeda or Willie McCovey a tactic which often backfired, veteran Manager Gene Mauch says: "I did it many times and I would do it again.

Mays was the greatest clutch hitter in baseball history. Why should I deliberately pitch to the greatest in history when I can pitch to someone else anyone else?" out," he said. "The ceremony captures more attention and should not be so rushed. "The game is only an exhibition. It's good baseball and a chance to see the stars of today, but doesn't come up to the level of the ceremony," added Hollis.

Officials said the game was sold out three days after tickets went on sale. Doubleday Field seats about 10,000. Among the Hall of Famers expected are Roy Campanella, the Dodger catcher; left fielder Stan Musial of the Cardinals; pitcher Robin Roberts of the Phillies; and 90-year-old Stan Co- veleski, who officials said has shown up faithfully since his induction in 1969. Hollis, who in 1939 worked for a group of Cooperstown weekly newspapers, said the museum's dedication was part of a year-long celebration of the 100th birthday of baseball. "It was the most exciting day for Cooperstown up to that point," he said.

Ten of the 11 Hall of Famer members then living, including Ruth, Connie Mack, Cy Young, Grover Alexander, Eddie Collins and Honus Wagner, took part in the ceremony. to DAiii irDAiicrft Minn. Vikings memorabilia of the three men who, on Aug. 5, will join the ranks of the game's other 158 immortals Willie Mays, Warren Giles and Hack Wilson. Guilfoile said special exhibits honoring the World Series and another comparing ballparks were scheduled to open in time for the Hall of Fame festivities.

For the World Series exhibit, a replica of a stadium was built, with artifacts from memorable games, beginning with the first in 1903 between the Boston Red Sox and the Pittsburgh Pirates. Also, part of the display, are life-size photos of Series' heroes, such as Koufax, Dizzie Dean, Ruth, Mays, and Reggie Jackson. The Ball Park exhibit, includes photos and mementos of old fields, including Ebbets, Forbes, and the Polo Grounds. The remainder of the renovations will be completed in the fall and winter, Guilfoile noted. About 27 of the 46 living Hall of Famers were expected to be on hand for Sunday's induction ceremony and Monday's game between the San Diego Padres and the Texas Rangers, museum officials said.

This will be the first year that the ceremonies and game have not been held on the same day. "It was a very hurried event for the Hall of Famers, to be at the ceremony at 10 a.m., then a luncheon and be back at Doubleday field for pregame activities by 1:30 p.m.," said Harold Hollis, a member of the museum's Board of Directors and a former village mayor. "We're hoping that it will be more relaxed and leisurely if It's spread By ANNE DOBINSKY United Press International COOPERSTOWN, N.Y. In his speech at the dedication of the Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1939, the late Commissioner of Baseball Kenesaw M. Landis remarked the museum in this picturesque village on Otsego Lake was not only for the pioneers and greats of the game, but for "all America." Since then, more than 5 million visitors have passed through its halls, which have been enlarged four times.

In honor of its 40th year, the museum has undertaken a $3 million expansion and renovation program, which will double its space and allow it to display nearly all its 10,000 pieces of memorabilia. The first floor, containing the Great Moments Room and the Cooperstown Room, has been completed, said William Guilfoile, director of public relations for the museum. In the Great Moments Room, the most exciting feats and games are recreated using 8 10-foot blowups of historic photographs. Fans can relive Hank Aaron hitting his record-breaking 715th homerun, or Joe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak, Babe Ruth's 60 homers in 1927, Lou Gehrig's 2,130 consecutive game and Sandy Koufax' 4th no-hitter and perfect game. Along the walls of this room, in the museum's newest wing, are original art works related to baseball, including several by Norman Rockwell.

On display in the Cooperstown Room are artifacts tracing the game from its beginnings in 1839 when it was believed to have been devised In this village by Abner Doubleday. Also, on display are 1 LOOK THE WAY YOU WANT TO SWIM, SHAMPOO, PLAY SPORTS PERMANENT HAIR, NQN-SMCALLY GUARANTEED Watr. AFTER UNDETECTABLE AT TIKE OF FITTI9I8 OR 10 fiHIRGE Sand Per FrM rochiir COUPON WORTH $100.00 APOLLO Hair Systems, Inc. Cntlaton Ma Addr MM I. Ilnd llml rw I Indpll, Ind.

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