How was a better fielder Mantle or Mays?

Mickey Mantle was by far the greater talent. If he had not played injured for his entire career there wouldn't even be a conversation about this topic. Mantle was the better defensive center fielder as well. All one has to do is check their career stats.

Someone mentioned that the old Polo Grounds center field was 483 feet. Maybe so but he was wrong about Yankee Stadium. When Mantle played center field at Yankee Stadium, center field was 461 feet straight away. Not much different.

During the era of "Willie, Mickey and the Duke", it was always assumed that Mays was the best of the three. Statistically that may have been the case. Mays played longer and was healthy for his entire career. Mantle even said publically that Mays was better than he or Duke. If you knew Mantle you knew that he was always giving credit to everyone but himself. That's just the way he was.

The fact is Mays told the press countless times that he wished he had had the God given talent that Mantle had. Mays would always qualify that by saying he that still thought he was better but always with a smile.

Finally, Mickey Mantle was the greatest single talent that ever played the game of baseball.

The age old question of who was better. Of course you know that this is a subjective question and there is no right or wrong answers, and isn't this really what makes baseball such a great game? I see that you have come to conclusions based on highlight reels and your perception of these two great players based on what you feel is important, and I would never try to change what you believe.

I am old enough to have seen both of these great players play the game in person many times and I can tell you that both had unbelievable talent. Mantle had great speed but so did Mays. Long after Mays retired he once commented that if he would have known that a 40-40 season (home runs and stolen bases) was going to be such a big deal he would have accomplished it most every season, and there is no doubt in my mind that he would have done just that. Mays only ran when the score of the game dictated that he needed to get to the next base.

I have the utmost respect for "The Mick 7" who has also responded to this question above me, but after all he does refer to himself as "The Mick" and not the "Say Hey Kid". I do agree with him that Mantle was probably the most talented player to play the game but his full talent was not always in play due to injuries and possibly other personal issues. Mays could do it all in the field and he did it on a more frequent basis than Mantle and because of this I would have to say that the "Say Hey Kid" was the most consistent and greatest position player that I ever saw play the game. I grew up in LA as a Dodger fan and the number of times I saw Mays single-handedly beat the Dodgers, with his bat and glove, still haunts me to this day.

Father knows best.

Mays is the greatest all round player I ever watched. Mantle was an excellent centerfielder, but Mays was a better centerfielder.

Mays was a GREAT center fielder. He usually never had to make hi-lite reel catches because of his genius at reading balls coming off the bat, so he just ran to the place where the ball would come down and nonchalantly make the basket catch that he made famous. Just one more Willie Mays type catch. Nothing to it. Yeah right.

Mays

It's hard to say because Mantle was injured a lot. It would be a closer race if he hadn't been hurt so much. Mays by default.

BTW -- The centerfield fence in the Polo Grounds measured 483ft. The real death valley. Centerfield at Yankee Stadium was only 408

If you put any stock in Range Factor, Mays grades out quantitatively MUCH better than Mantle. Mays was the Giants' primary center fielder for 18 seasons. In 16 of those seasons, his range factor/9 innings was higher than the league average for center fielders; one of his "down" years was the year he turned 38. Mantle was the Yankees' center fielder for roughly 12 seasons - including some of his injury-shortened years - and never put up a range factor/9 innings higher than the rest of the league.

You can argue who had more talent from now until Jamie Moyer retires, but judging by their actual play on actual major league fields, Mays was better.

Mays was the better fielder. But Mantle was great too. Now if you put the Dimaggio brothers into the mix, Dom (the lesser known who played for the Red Sox) and Joltin Joe were two of the best out there too, but I still give the edge to Mays.

Mays.

When Mantle played CF Yankee Stadium it was 466' and there were monuments in front of the wall. He also had to cover a huge left center of 457' with usually weak fielding LF such as Yogi Berra, Gene Woodling, Hector Lopez, Bob Cerv etc.

Having said that, I would say Mantle in his prime was as good as Mays, however since Mays was a fantastic fielder for most of his career, I would give the edge to him on longevity.

Until he first injured his knee, Mickey Mantle was the best center-fielder in the game. He was the quickest off the bat and had terrific range. He was also a terrific base stealer as well. After the injury Willie Mays had the best glove.