Willie Mays Was a Better Baseball Player Than Mickey Mantle.

<"Home runs: Mr. Mays has more career home runs 660 for Mays and 536 for Mantle, however Willie Mays played for 22 seasons in the major leagues, while Mantle played only 18 seasons. Willie Mays had a season high for home runs of 52, Mickey Mantle hit 54 home runs in 1961."> I think my opponent is playing into my hands with this -- Mays having played more than Mantle would be an advantage for Mays, because the more you play, the more chances you get to contribute; the more you contribute, the more valuable you are; the more valuable you are, the better you've been. In essence, Mays having played longer is reflective of his superior durability. To further prove Mays' much better durability: Mays had 12493 career plate appearances, and 18 seasons with 500 or more; Mantle had 9909 plate appearances, and 14 seasons with 500 or more. As my opponent points out later in his argument, Mantle never took care of himself, which drastically affected his durability, which is an important aspect in determining the better player, for reasons I cited above. As far as homeruns go, they're nice -- but even though Mays has an advantage in that category, there's much more to hitting than homers, so I won't be using them specifically in my argument. <"2. Health: Mickey Mantle never took care of himself. He drank far too much and this affected his natural talent. His legs were often so bad that they had to be bandaged before every game. Yet, through all this he was still able to peform at a very high level."> Having poor health means poor durability, which means this plays into my hands, as well; Mays' durability was clearly much superior to that of Mickey Mantle's. <"Mickey Mantle was a very good defensive center fielder, while still being able to put up MVP like offensive numbers. Also, Mickey Mantle won the MVP award three times while Willie Mays only won it twice. Mantle also finished much higher in the MVP voting than Willie Mays did on a year to year basis."> Yeah, Mantle was an alright defender -- but Mays was a great one. There's a stat which rates defense called TotalZone, in which Mays has the 3rd highest total of +108, and that's only going back to 1956, which means Mays likely isn't as high as he should be. Mantle isn't even in the +100 club -- that information is available here: http://www.hardballtimes.com... Here's what the stat I mentioned is all about: http://www.baseball-reference.com... As for my opponent's claims about MVP awards and such...I don't think awards carry much merit in arguments such as these, because they're heavily reliant on the opinions of others, and the voters often use the "triple crown" stats, which I think are relatively fallible. <"Mickey Mantle won seven world series titles while Willie Mays won only one."> Highly irrelevant. World Series titles are team accomplishments; they're too dependent on the whole team for them to have any real use in player comparisons. So, I've already shown that Mays has superior durability and defense -- but how about hitting and baserunning? Mays stole 338 bases and was caught 103 times; Mantle stole 153 bases and was caught 38 times. So, in essence, Mantle stole 10 bases and was caught 3 times per 162 games; Mays stole 18 and was caught 6 times. Mays was caught three more times -- but he stole eight more bases. I'd think it's so close that it's pretty much a wash. As far as hitting goes, this is a little trickier. First, the stats I plan on using: EqA and OPS+. Explanations of them can be found here: http://www.baseball-reference.com... http://www.baseballprospectus.com... -- and http://www.baseballprospectus.com... With OPS+, 100 is average; 150 is excellent. With EqA, .270 is average; .300 is excellent. Mays had an OPS+ of 120 or greater with 500+ PA 17 times; Mantle did that 14 times. Furthermore, Mays was above above 150 13 of those years; Mantle was above 150 12 times. Mays had an EqA of .300 or greater with 500+ PA 16 times; Mantle did that 14 times. To look even more in depth, Mays was above .330 with 500 + PA 14 times; Mantle did that 8 times. So, by this, we can see that Mays clearly has more good to excellent offensive seasons than Mickey Mantle -- for the majority of their careers, is does, indeed, appear that Willie Mays was the better player offensively. So, Mays has a considerable advantage in durability, which is one reason why he was also the more valuable offensive player -- as I said, the more you play, the more chances to contribute. And, as I believe I've shown, Mays capitalized on those opportunities. Baserunning is essentially a wash -- but Mays *does* have the defensive advantage, as well. Willie Mays was, indeed, a better baseball player than Mickey Mantle -- the resolution is affirmed.