San Francisco Giants Link Dump, 5/6

Willie Mays was great at everything and he's a Giant and we don't talk about that time he was on the Mets.

Happy birthday, Willie Mays!
WILLIE MAYS IS THE BEST ALWAYS AND FOREVER THE BEST IF YOU KNOW SOMEONE WHO DISAGREES BURN THEM FOR HERESY IT IS THE ONLY RATIONAL COURSE OF ACTION

Also, happy birthday to Masanori Murakami, who should feel lucky he was never in the majors on his birthday, because you know people would have given all the good gifts to Willie, and then been all "Oh, hey Masanori, no, I totally remembered. I got you this...uh...used...t-shirt. I'm wearing it at the moment, but I can take it off if you want it now."

When Feminism, Cigarette Smoking, and Gambling Make Baseball Relics Valuable
A summary of the more interesting items in a recent baseball memorabilia auction.  It's a good list - there's a cigarette ad starring Monte Irvin and (birthday boy!) Willie Mays, a game-used Shoeless Joe bat, and a baseball card of the first woman who played professional baseball, Lizzie Arlington. And if any of those items tickle your fancy, they've all been sold and they're gone forever and you can't have them. Have a good day!

Which major-league managers were the best players?
Joe Posnanski ranks the playing careers of every current big-league manager. You might think Bochy would rank as one of the worst, but he's not even close. If I was making the list, I'd rank Mattingly last for singlehandedly preventing the Yankees from winning a World Series while he was there. They only played one postseason series in his entire career, and they lost it. Clearly Mattingly needs to be held accountable.

Seaver’s Double Duty for the White Sox
Last night, the Giants played a game that could be described as "lawng." So what was the longest game in major league history? It happened almost exactly 30 years ago, on May 8, 1984, between the White Sox and the Brewers, and lasted 25 innings, which took 8 hours and six minutes. I don't mean to editorialize out of turn here, but that's too long for a baseball game. Sorry if my #hottakes offend you, but it had to be said.

rWAR All-Star Roster
If the All-Star rosters were selected today based on Baseball-Reference WAR, who would be on them? Despite the Giants having the second best record in baseball at the time of its creation, they only have one player on the roster because the baseball world is full of HATERS who just spend all day HATING on the Giants, probably because I root for them.

Fangraphs has Yadier and Posey as the top two catchers in the NL, but as a good irrational sports fan, I have never once let facts get in the way of my martyr complex, and I'm certainly not going to start now.

That’s One Skinny Sad Panda, Taking Strike One
Pablo Sandoval has obviously had a terrible start to the year, and this article highlights a specific reason why: he's swinging at significantly less first pitches. Do you see? Do you see what all our Plate Discipline jokes hath wrought? Go back to the hitter you were, Pablo. We just...we just wanted to call you fat.