Giants trade aging Willie Mays to the Mets

The first person to understand how profoundly Willie Mays’ skills had declined near the end of his career was likely the man himself.

The second might have been Vin Scully.

We take you to the 1971 NLCS. Mays, who turned 40 that season, helped the Giants win a division title, though he wore down in the season’s final weeks.

The Giants met the Pirates in the playoffs, splitting the first two games at Candlestick Park. Game 3 was in Pittsburgh.

In the top of the sixth inning, San Francisco scored a run to tie the game 1-1. There were no outs. They had a man on second base. The series was hanging in the balance. For more than 20 years that was a made-forMays moment. At this moment, Mays attempted to bunt. He fouled it off.

Scully, in the broadcast booth seemed stunned. This did not compute.

Mays attempted two more bunts. He got the final attempt down, but the runner on second had to hold and Mays was thrown out at first.

“I guess it’s just that I’ve seen Willie Mays play ever since he’s come into the league,” Scully said. “To see Mays bunt, it’s just a sad scene for me to see.”

Few surpassing athletes retire at the height of their prowess. Sad scenes are part of the game. Babe Ruth in a Boston Braves uniform comes to mind.

The offseason did little to rejuvenate Mays. He and Giants fans began to do what wildly popular athletes and their fans do when the magic subsides. They enter into a melancholy arrangement in which the athlete does the best he can and his fans gratefully take whatever they can get.

But there was another dynamic in play in early 1972. The Giants as an organization was declining as quickly as Mays was. Team owner Horace Stoneham was running out of cash. Something had to give. On May 11 Mays was traded to the New York Mets in exchange for a minor league pitcher. In real time, there was communal caterwauling. But it didn’t take long to realize that Mays had been delivered to an ideal situation — to a contending team, in the city where he broke in with the New York Giants.

The Oakland Tribune had reporters on the ground and behind the scenes during that wrenching time. Here is what they reported, straight from the archives:

Willie Mays, who began his major league career 21 years ago in New York, returned today when the San Francisco Giants traded him to the Mets for minor league pitcher Charlie Williams and an undisclosed amount of cash.

The announcement of the trade came from Mets General Manager Bob Scheffing after he, Mays, Board Chairman M. Donald Grant, Manager Yogi Berra and Giant President Horace Stoneham had huddled most of the morning in a mid-town New York hotel.

The trade came as no surprise.

Officials of both clubs had admitted last week negotiations were going on and it was obvious a deal was imminent when Mays left the Giants in Montreal last night to come to New York.

It was expected the Giants would hold out for one of the Mets’ front line pitchers — Jon Matlack and Jim McAndrew were prominently mentioned — and utility infielder Ted Martinez in exchange for the 41-year- old superstar. That didn’t happen.

Mays is on the second year of a $165,000 contract with the Giants. Grant wouldn’t say what Mays’ financial arrangement with the Mets would be.

“I will say that the amount has to do with what Willie will receive over the years.” He did not clarify the comment.

Grant did say part of the package included a job for Mays in the Met organization after he retires as an active player. He added the possibility existed Mays would become a coach.

Berra said Mays would join the Mets Sunday after first cleaning up some business. He also said he was pleased to have Willie.

“You bet I am,” Berra exclaimed. “He can help me in two positions — first base and the outfield.”

Mays said he’d leave his playing time up to Berra.

“I hope I’m in good shape,” he said. “I haven’t played that much this year.”

Willie had appeared in 19 games with the Giants this season getting nine base hits in 49 at bats for a .184 average. He said in an interview before the Giants left on their current eastern swing that the strike that delayed the opening of the season had hurt him at the plate.

Williams had a 5- 6 record and a 4.80 earned run average in 31 games with the Mets last season, He scored his first major league victory against the Giants when he pitched five innings of two-hit relief June 2.

The 24-year- old right hander now is with the Mets’ farm club at Tidewater where he is 2-2 with a 4.86 ERA in four starts.

The Giants virtually put themselves in a position where they had to trade Mays when Stoneham admitted that he was talking with the Mets about a deal.

The news came as a surprise to Willie and he admitted he was hurt that he hadn’t been consulted first.

Still, it appeared the deal might not be made when the Mets turned down the Giants’ initial request Tuesday.

But Grant said the deal was settled several days ago and an announcement delayed until the Mets met with Mays and made sure he would be happy in New York. Epilogue: And that was about that. Oh, except that Giants fans had two more bitter pills to swallow. The first came three days after the trade. In his first game as a Met in Shea Stadium, Mays cracked a gamewinning run against the Giants. The second came when he returned “home” to Candlestick Park. He homered again — a tworun shot in a 3-1 New York victory.