While I was playing a few APBA baseball games with my friend Shawn Lee on Sunday night, we went through the 1962 season reprint set I brought over. I reached for the NL champion Giants and this card popped out at me.
It’s Willie Mays’ homerun leading card. He hit 49 dingers in 1962 which may not seem like a lot these days but only eleven players had accomplished that feat up until that year. Mays himself was one of them, hitting 51 in 1955.
For the year, Mays drove in 141 runs and scored 130 while hitting .304 and stealing 18 bases.
The Say-Hey Kid probably deserved the MVP in 1962 but voters were more impressed with Maury Wills’ 104 stolen bases though Wills’ other numbers were not as impressive (.299/.347/.373). Wills eked out the MVP vote by 3 percentage points.
| Split | G | PA | AB | R | H | 2B | 3B | HR | RBI | SB | BB | SO | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1962 Totals | 162 | 706 | 621 | 130 | 189 | 36 | 5 | 49 | 141 | 18 | 78 | 86 | .304 | .384 | .615 |
There’s nothing as satisfying as double ones complimented by a 5. Mays (1-1-4-5-6-8-8-9-9-10-10, 4 14s) really will really come through in the clutch with this card. Especially with his two 10s, his card is made for a runner on first.
Looking at his card, I thought he had three 31s for a second or two. Alas, APBA put the 12 at 34 in the 1962 reprint set so they relocated the 31 to 46. That’s pretty irrelevant anyway since I don’t think too many people are going to take away Mays’ two 1s and a 5 with the hit and run.
Fun numbers: 22-5, 44-6
Interesting point: Mays has hit more homeruns in a season and has hit for a batting average but it was in 1962 when he hit the most total bases (382) for his career. He actually tied that mark from his 51-homer 1955 season.
