season with the mets when he was suffering from brett favre disease at the end of his career.
over twenty years with the giants, he averaged .304 with 3178 hits, 646 home runs, 1856 rbi and 1376 walks and a slugging % of .570.
for the mathematically challenged, that breaks down to a yearly average of:
158 hits
32 home runs
92 rbi
16 stolen bases
68 walks
no too shabby, huh? imagine getting that type of production from your #3 hitter for TWENTY YEARS! when you toss in a rookie of the year award, two MVP trophys, four world series and twelve gold gloves, i think you get the idea of how great he was........oh, did i forget to mention that he made the all-star team 22 years in a row while averaging 141 games a year when they only played 154 games a season. with only eight teams in each league, you faced the best of the best day in and day out. pitchers like koufax, drysdale, law, spahn, burdette, purkey, buhl, podres, erskine, newcombe, ellsworth, haddix and a dozen more that i've forgotten.
if you get the chance, check out willie's stats and when you realize that he played throughout the 50's & 60's, known as the golden era of baseball, you'll realize what a treasure he was to the game of baseball.
stay well, willie.
1 comment:
dan, nice blog about willie. sports back then i were better in the competition. it only makes hitting .400, the 56 game hit streak , 755 home runs, and many more amazing stats with pitchers and fielders the best. i can remember when they started adding all the hockey teams it just waters down the talent second line people are first now, third are second , even forth are some second and third lines . it just makes what the players in the decades before all the expansion teams better and greater for what they accomplished against the best.
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