Bob Costas on Willie Mays’ Singular Greatness | The Rich Eisen Show

Bob Costas is so great at talking baseball. A true historian of the game.

Look at his games played. He was never hurt and almost never took a day off until he was 38-39 yo. Amazing.

Spit game like Costas, I could listen to him talk about the golden age greats all day 🔥

I could listen to Bob Costas talk Baseball for hours! Mays was before my time but I believe the era between 1945-1975-80 was probably the greatest era of Baseball! R.I.P. say Hey Kid Willie Mays!

Willie in his prime was the best who ever played center field and I was a Yankee fan growing up

Per Costas at 4:36, Ted Williams played for Baltimore which will be news to Orioles fans 😂

When I was a kid in the 60's my dad was a big Giants fan. Before cable, KTVU channel 2 used to televise their games. We lived in San Leandro, not far from the city. Willie Mays was the best. I sometimes used to watch. Those were some good times. RIP Mr. Mays.

Thank you, Rich, for posting these great shorts! 👍

I love Bob’s knowledge and commentary about baseball as much as I love Shelby Foote’s knowledge and commentary about The Civil War.

I was at the last game of his career and I was the first person to get his autograph after game 7 of the 73 WS. He came out of the lower section of coliseum, I shook his hand and asked for his autograph. He told me to go to his car and there were dozens of people around it. I grabbed hold of his jacket, pressed my chest into his back, and we pushed our way through the crowd. I handed him my WS ticket stub (proof of his last game), and he signed it. Tickets were $10 for upper deck.

mays made baseball popular for people who didn't even care about it for all races. not a player in the history of the game had the impact mays had . man women young old black white. he could do it all and with a flair that no one could touch and ever will. i thought baseball was boring and my mom in the 60,s said i'm going to take you to see willie mays. and that's all it took. feel so sorry for those who never got to see him on the field. the stuff that he did is burned in to my mind forever

Good to see Bob.. would have love to hear his feelings on the 1994 June 17th commentary.

SAY HEY!.......RIP..............

My fave player ever. I was a tiny kid when he played for the Mets in WSeries

I saw Mays play in his rookie year. I can't remember much since I was two years old.

I loved Saturday afternoons when Curt Gowdy & Tony Kubek called MLB game of the week back in the 60's. Watching Wille Mays and Willie McCovey play was like watching actual giants.

R.I.P Say Hey Kid!! The best Ball player I ever saw. He was the first 5 Tool Player !! Mickey Mantle, probably would have been as great or even greater had he not stepped on the Yankee stadium Drain in 1951 or 1952 (?) . That tore up his knee that today would have been surgically repaired. MM suffered with that affliction of a torn meniscus and either a MCL or ACL tear. From my recollection, MM was the fastest player down the first baseline from Home plate at 3 Seconds (batting Lefty). And of course, he was later ruined by Whitey Ford and Billie by alcohol - up to 2 six packs a day!!

Rest in peace Willie! I first saw him @the old Tokyo Stadium in March 21, 1970. Willie got 3 hits, and Sadaharu Oh hitting the Game ending Sayonara HR!! That game made me a big baseball fan! Coincidence?? Willie Mays pass away in 20and24!!

I agree wholeheartedly with Bob's comments about the greatness of not only Willie, but his incredible contemporaries: Mantle, Aaron, Clemente, Robinson, Snider, Musial, Williams. It doesn't diminish their greatness, in any way, to say that Willie is the best all-around-player in MLB history. For me, Willie Mays--my childhood hero--was baseball. He was "born to play ball," and he played it brilliantly and charismatically at a level all his own. Memo to MLB: retire #24.

Mays lived so long that it's hard to find people who actually saw him play right from the beginning. Costas wasn't even born when Mays broke in the majors.