But there’s also no way to know how the modern major leagues would have adapted to him. We don’t know how good Mays would have been had he gotten to face the best players in the country his age, growing up competing at showcase events. We don’t know how much better he might have been had he not grown up in the Jim Crow South, had he not had to deal with the specter of racism his entire career, had he not had to fight against redlining even as a superstar living in San Francisco. We will never know how Willie Mays would have fared had he been born in our time because he was born in his time. And the impact he made during his time will live on forever.

What we do know is that no one who played against the best baseball players in the world ever dominated them as much as Mays did, for as long as Mays did, with as much style as Mays did. He was a giant of the game. He was the GOAT before we called them GOATs. He was the Greatest Ballplayer Who Ever Lived.

– Rany Jazayerli

RIP Willie Mays.

Rany Jazaerli poses the deeper question. It’s not how Willie Mays would have adapted to the modern major leagues, it’s how would the modern major leagues adapted to him?

Jazayerli, Rany. “Willie Mays Obituary: Life, Legacy, and Statistics.” The Ringer, June 19, 2024. https://www.theringer.com/mlb/2024/6/19/24181679/willie-mays-obituary-life-legacy-statistics.