Today we celebrate the 80th birthday of arguably the greatest baseball player in major league history. He is the shark on the food chain of Bay Area sports icons and quite possibly the most underpaid athlete in Bay Area history. Think about this for a moment. Andres Torres, a life long minor league player who finally broke through and made the big club last season earned roughly $450K. Willie Mays was paid just $160K a season at the height of his playing career. Yeah, there are some guys in the office who would direct you to google inflation calculators to figure out the value of a dollar in 1960, but I'm definitely not here to do that. I think it's safe to say that the $300 million contract Pujols will sign in a few months would be well below what Mays would make today. (click here for some stats) However you slice it, whatever path you've walked in your career as a sports fan, you can likely agree that Mays was the greatest baseball player of all time. He revolutionized the way the game was played, was a showman well before ESPN (I hate you ESPN) came along with their top ten plays and web gems and let's not forget that he lost 3 years of his playing career while fighting for the United States of America.
Happy Birthday Willie, and thank you for laughing, smiling and joking each time a microphone is put in front of your face.
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