An A-Maysing 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?

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

Future Hall of Famers all.

Little wonder that 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.

Willie Mays batting in 1966

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.

Mays and Aaron are selected for all 13 games during the ’60s while Clemente only misses the 1968 game during a season in which he slumps, if you will, to a .291 batting average.

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.”