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North: Debating the greatness of Mays vs. Musial

I read with interest Los Angeles Dodgers legendary announcer Vin Scully's take on the great Willie Mays, who just celebrated his 85th birthday.

He said Mays was the greatest baseball player he has ever seen play, and I can understand why Scully made those comments. He is entitled to his opinion and he may very well be right, but Mays played in New York and San Francisco and Scully covered him in both cities - first with the New York Giants and then when they moved to the West Coast.

Mr. Scully continued to watch and observe the rivalry between the Giants and the Dodgers and also Mays' combination of power, speed and grace.

Yet I might say Mays wasn't even the best player in the National League.

Who could I possibly name with a resume as good as the great Willie Mays?

Well, I know Scully saw Stan Musial play but the small market of the St. Louis Cardinals and his unassuming on-field persona have made Musial somewhat of a forgotten man.

So here's my case for "Stan the Man." Let's start with the basic stats.

Mays dominates Musial in two categories: stolen bases (338 to 78) and home runs (660 to 475). And Mays played in two ballparks that were tougher to hit home runs in - the Polo Grounds and Candlestick Park.

Both played 22 years so they are even there, but check the back of their baseball cards. Musial dominates in many categories: doubles (Musial 725 Mays 523) - that's 200 more doubles. Triples: the slower Musial 177 - Mays 140. How about hits? The "Say Hey Kid" acquired 3,283 while Musial had 3,630 hits.

You want more?

OK, let's talk strikeouts. The great Mays struck out 1,526 times, almost double Musial's 696. Amazing!

Then there's slugging percentages, which are comparable: Musial at .559 to Mays with .557.

In the awards categories, Musial was a three-time MVP and Mays won twice.

Let's not forget World Series championships: Musial won three and Mays one.

Look, Mays was great, but not as great as Musial. I could list more stats but the advantage goes to Musial.

I respect Mr. Scully's opinion a great deal, but Musial was almost inarguably the better player.

Program notes:

Follow me on Twitter@ north2north, and listen to Fox Sports Daybreak with Andy Furman and myself from 5-8 a.m. Monday through Friday on Fox Sports radio, and check me out on iHeart radio or Foxsportsradio.com.

• North's column appears each Tuesday and Friday in the Daily Herald, and his video commentary can be found Monday, Wednesday and Thursday at dailyherald.com. For more, visit northtonorth.com.

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