Juan Marichal vs Willie Mays: Career Stats Comparison
Juan Marichal (1960–1975) and Willie Mays (1951–1973) — they broke in during the 1960s and the 1950s respectively, which makes the side-by-side worth doing carefully. Juan Marichal finished with 202 hits and 4 home runs; Willie Mays finished with 3,293 hits and 660 home runs. Below is the full career table, PIV adjustment, peak seasons, and a verdict.
Willie Mays
Career Stats Side-by-Side
Every cell below is a career total or career rate for Juan Marichal and Willie Mays. Cells highlighted in green mark the category leader. Counting stats reward longevity; the rate stats at the bottom are era-agnostic.
| Statistic | Juan Marichal | Willie Mays |
|---|---|---|
| Games | 475 | 3,005 |
| At-Bats | 1,221 | 10,924 |
| Runs | 73 | 2,068 |
| Hits | 202 | 3,293 |
| Doubles | 29 | 525 |
| Triples | 2 | 141 |
| Home Runs | 4 | 660 |
| RBI | 75 | 1,909 |
| Walks | 38 | 1,468 |
| Strikeouts | 269 | 1,526 |
| Stolen Bases | 2 | 339 |
| Batting Avg | .165 | .301 |
| On-Base % | .191 | .384 |
| Slugging % | .202 | .557 |
| OPS | .393 | .940 |
PIV Comparison
By PIV (Player Impact Value), Willie Mays outpaces Juan Marichal 74,062 to -7,811 — a gap driven primarily by per-season impact (3,086 vs -488 per year). PIV adjusts each season to league baselines, so it's the cleanest way to compare careers across eras.
Peak Seasons
The best single seasons each player produced, ranked by OPS among qualified workloads (300+ at-bats).
Juan Marichal — top 0 seasons by OPS
Willie Mays — top 3 seasons by OPS
Verdict
On the head-to-head card, Willie Mays leads in hits, home runs, RBI, and runs, while Juan Marichal owns no headline categories. That doesn't settle the era debate, but on the raw scoreboard the edge goes to Willie Mays. PIV agrees: Willie Mays grades out higher across their careers. Click through to each profile for the full season-by-season breakdown.