An a-Mays-ing decade

The Sporting News – once the go-to media outlet for all things baseball—names its player of the decade for the 1960s on this date in 1970.

The winner?

That would be Willie Mays, center, of the San Francisco Giants, followed in the voting by the Atlanta Braves’ Hank Aaron, right, and the Pittsburgh Pirates’ Roberto Clemente.

Future Hall of Famers all.

Willie Mays batting at Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium during the 1960s

Little wonder, with those three leading the way, the National League beats the American League in 12 of the 13 All-Star Games played during the ’60s.

“They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays,” muses Boston Red Sox Hall of Fame left fielder Ted Williams.

The only American League victory comes in 1962 – the fourth and final season in which two All-Star Games are played in the same summer.

Even in that game from 1962, Mays goes 2-for-2 with a pair of singles during a 9-4 loss to the American League at Wrigley Field.

As for Mays, he bats .300 in 1,498 games during the 1960s with 1,635 hits, 350 home runs, 1,003 runs batted in and 1,050 runs scored.

“If you hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game,” Mays tells The Sporting News in 1970, “then you’re a good ballplayer.”