Durocher

To understand what’s at stake here, I spoke with Christopher Wright Durocher, vice president of policy and program at the American Constitution Society.

Leo Durocher, who spent a lifetime in baseball as a player and manager, and was Mays’ first manager with the Giants, declared his protégé to be “the greatest ballplayer I’ve ever seen,” and Durocher had seen Ty Cobb, Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Stan Musial and Hank Aaron, among other greats.

“You’re gonna play center field for me tomorrow and the day after that, so you better get used to the idea,” Durocher replied.

The surge ended in the World Series, the lordly Yankees winning in six games, but Mays was on his way and Durocher gave him full credit.

He had only one hit in his first 26 at-bats, a home run off Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves, and asked Durocher to send him back to Minneapolis.