Friday Stuff

World Series MVP Edition

Monday

On this date in 1961, Willie Mays signed a contract for $85,000. It was the exact same salary he’d made the year before, and even in those days of year-to-year deals, it was particularly preposterous that Mays didn’t get any sort of raise out of the Giants.

In 1960 he was worth 9.5 WAR, the most in baseball by quite a bit, and while that wasn’t a statistic at the time it wasn’t like people needed that stat to know Mays had been outstanding the year before. He’d made both National League All-Star teams, won a Gold Glove, hit 29 homers, stole 25 bases, drove in 103 runs, scored 107, led both leagues with 190 hits, and batted .319/.381/.555. He was third in National League MVP voting, too, the clearest possible sign that people in baseball knew he’d had a great season. The Giants stiffed him anyway.

Anyway, that’s more of an aside. The theme this week, World Series MVPs, applies to Mays not because he won the award but because the current version of it is named for him. Officially it’s the Willie Mays Award, named for him in 2017 on the 63rd anniversary of his famed catch in the 1954 World Series. But, while the catch itself was incredible, it’s hard to see why it should be the basis of the World Series MVP trophy being named for Mays.