Baseball History Comes Alive Now Ranked #2 by Feedspot Among All Internet Baseball History Websites and Blogs!
Guest Submissions from Our Readers Always Welcome!
Subscribe to my blog for automatic updates and as a Bonus get instant access to my two Free Special Reports: “Memorable World Series Moments,” and “Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide!”
Leo Durocher and Willie Mays Photo Gallery
Click on any image below to view entire gallery:
Tribute to Leo Durocher and Willie Mays
“Leo Durocher was like my father away from home.”–Willie Mays, speaking of Leo Durocher
My post a couple of days ago talked about Jackie Robinson and Leo Durocher and how things might have been different for Jackie if he had the bold and brash Leo Durocher leading interference for him back in 1947. In my opinion, Leo never would have let anyone get away with giving his star player grief. Had they done so, they would have regretted it.
That post got me thinking about Leo Durocher and Willie Mays, and how Leo acted as a mentor and father-figure for Willie during his rookie year of 1951. In the case of Leo and Willie Mays, we don’t have to speculate. We know what happened.
Leo had his faults…lots of them. I love the famous Branch Rickey quote who once said of Durocher: “He was the uncanny ability to make a bad situation worse.” But, as I’ve been saying for a long time, in spite of all his faults, his greatest and most lasting contribution to baseball was taking Willie Mays under his wing and guiding him during his difficult transition into the major leagues. In doing so, he allowed Mays to blossom into arguably the greatest player in the history of the game. I don’t know if there was anyone else around at the time besides Durocher who could done this. If only he had had the chance to do the same for Jackie Robinson!
As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, I love to think about the wonderful scene in the Giants’ clubhouse after rookie Willie Mays got off to his disastrous 0-12 start. Giants’ coach Freddie Fitzsimmons saw Willie sitting alone crying and informed Leo of the situation, saying, “Leo, I think you better have a talk with your boy over there.”
What would have become of the Willie Mays if Leo wasn’t there to console him at this crucial time? I still get goose-bumps whenever I think about it. Leo went over to Willie and asked, “What’s the matter, son?” Willie turned to his manager and with tears streaming down his cheeks, replied: “I don’t belong up here…I can’t play here…I can’t help you Mis’-a-Leo, send me back to the minors.” Leo – whose career began bat in the 1920’s as a teammate of Babe Ruth – just smiled, patted Willie on the back, and simply said:
“Look son, I brought you up here to do one thing. That’s to play center field. You’re the best center fielder I’ve ever seen. As long as I’m here, you’re going to play center field. Tomorrow, next week, next month. As long as Durocher is manager of this team you will be on this club because you’re the best ball player I have ever seen.”
The rest, as they say, is history. On his 13th at bat, Willie hit a homer over the left field fence off Warren Spahn who later joked, “I’ll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie forever if I’d only struck him out.”
Ah…baseball…what a great game!
Years later, Willie was asked in an interview to expand on his relationship with Leo. Here’s what he said:
“Leo Durocher was like my father away from home. When I went to California I stayed with Leo in his house. His kid, Chris Durocher, was my roommate on the road. Chris would go to the black areas and stay with me. Leo trusted me. He knew that if his kid was going to stay with me, nothing was going to happen to that kid. I had such a good time with Leo. I met so many good people in Hollywood. Jeff Chandler used to come to spring training with me, Pat O’Brien, all the movie stars. Leo would have a party for me when I used to go there. All the big stars used to come there: Randolph Scott, Dean Martin, Jerry Lewis. So I said, Leo, why don’t we have a game?” All the stars would come to Arizona and we used to have a game with these stars. We used to have a beautiful time. So Leo was like my second father away from home.”
Yes, Leo Durocher had his faults. It was common knowledge that as many players hated his guts as loved him. He was “the All-American Out” as Babe Ruth so famously branded him. He was a scrappy, marginal player who couldn’t hit, but won three pennants and one World Series title as a manager. So you can debate back and forth whether he belongs in the Hall of Fame. To me, he’s a Hall-of-Famer just for the way he took care of a frightened and home-sick rookie named Willie Mays. Feel free to disagree with me in the comments section below.
-Gary Livacari
Photo Credits: “Time Magazine on-line feature on Willie Mays; and from public domain
Information: Quotes edited from “Academy of Achievement” interview
Subscribe to my blog for automatic updates and Free Bonus Reports: “Memorable World Series Moments” and “Gary’s Handy Dandy World Series Reference Guide.”
