>It's always a shame when someone that good retires. At least he was smart enough to retire before things got really bad. Willie Mays is on anyone's list of great baseball players but he didn't do his reputation any good by hanging around two or three seasons too long.

It's true that Mays hung around longer than he ideally should have - but remember that Mays played in an era before the big contracts. If memory serves me, other players for the SF Giants (McCovey, Cepeda, and others) might have made as much or even more. By contrast, Doc's circumstances are different because he likely can afford to retire - would not surprise me if Mays kept playing because he felt he had to financially. I don't know this for a fact, but wouldn't surprise me.