American Valor Quarterly Issue 11 - Fall 2014 | Page 27

The comeback pennant for the
Giants was a memorable achievement
for being 13 and a half games behind in
August. We were able to come back and
meet that great Dodger team and beat
them in the playoffs, two games to one.
Bobby Thomson hit one of the most
memorable home runs ever. To win the
pennant, we became solid members of a
team. We had fun and it was a great and
enjoyable year.

MONTE IRVIN SPEAKS TO A YOUNG STUDENT ATTENDING THE 2008
AMERICAN VETERANS CENTER HONORS. IRVIN WAS RECOGNIZED
AT THE HONORS FOR HIS SERVICE DURING WORLD WAR II. JOINING
HIM WERE FELLOW MAJOR LEAGUE PLAYERS AND WWII VETS LOU
BRISSIE, JERRY COLEMAN, BOB FELLER, AND RALPH KINER.

to play baseball. We were the three
best players out in the outfield, but we
weren’t color-conscious. We didn’t say,
oh, we have the first all-black outfield.
We just played.
I was 12 years older than Willie
Mays and served as a sort of mentor
for him. He was 20 years old when he
reported to the Giants in Philadelphia
in 1951. I’d been around a little bit
more and knew more about the league,
the players and so on. I taught him
what I knew. Of course I didn’t have
to teach him much about playing. He
was already just a natural. He was like a
diamond in the rough. All you needed
to do was polish him up in a couple
of places. We tried to do that, and
he learned very fast. He became the
greatest centerfielder that ever lived.
Nobody ever came close to him
on center field. Nobody could beat
him in going and getting the ball. He
thought it was his solemn duty if the
ball didn’t go into the stands to catch
it, and most of the time he did. It was
very thrilling for all of us. It was also
very comfortable. We would see what
reckless play he was going to make
in the outfield. Our manager, Leo
Durocher, used to tell us that we were
FALL 2014

witnessing history. I’ve been playing this
game a long time, and I’ve never seen
anybody play center field like Mays. And
they recognize that now, that he was the
best.

Winning the World Series with the
Giants in 1954 was one of the great
things that happened. Mays made his
great catch. Dusty Rhodes hit a couple
of home runs. If Willie hadn’t made
that great catch and we hadn’t won
that game, they might have swept us
four straight, but that turned the whole
series around. We got momentum
going. We had played the Indians
before, so we knew their personnel.
We knew what their weaknesses and
strengths were, and we knew that we
could beat them. And we had players
like Hoyt Wilhelm, Marv Grissom and
Dusty Rhodes. We took advantage of it.
Comparing the Giants win in 1954

BEFORE THE 2008 AVC HONORS, MONTE JOINED THE OTHER
“BASEBALL HEROES OF WORLD WAR II” TO SHARE THEIR
EXPERIENCES WITH HUNDREDS OF STUDENTS AND YOUNG PEOPLE
AT THE AVC’S ANNUAL VETERANS CONFERENCE.
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