Willie Mays, the iconic Hall of Fame center fielder known as baseball’s greatest all-around player of all time, died Tuesday, the San Francisco Giants announced. He was 93 years old.
Mays, nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid,” had a professional baseball career that spanned four decades, beginning with the Negro Leagues in the late 1940s and ending with the New York Mets in 1972. In between, he spent 21 years with the New York Giants, who would later move to San Francisco
It is with great sadness that we announce that Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants legend and Hall of Famer, passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 93. pic.twitter.com/Qk4NySCFZQ
– SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024
Early interest in baseball
Mays was born May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, and his name was Willie, not William. Both his parents were talented athletes, but it was his father who introduced Mays to baseball. Cat Mays was a semi-pro player on several local black teams and had his son sitting in the dugout with him at age 10 after teaching him the basics years before.
By the time he was in high school, Mays played in several sports. His professional baseball career began in 1948, when he played for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro League before finishing high school. He signed with the Giants after graduating from high school in 1950 and was called up to the majors in May 1951 after barely a year playing in the minors.
May’s career
Mays was a true five-tool player, excelling in speed, throwing, fielding, hitting for average and hitting for power. He had a career triple-slash line of .301/.384/.557, with 660 home runs, 525 doubles and 338 stolen bases. He was the NL leader in stolen bases four times and led the NL in stolen bases four times. Over 24 seasons in the majors, he hit just 45 double plays.
In the grand scheme of his career, it didn’t take Mays long to become the incredible all-around player we remember today, but it still took time. He made his debut on May 25, 1951, and didn’t put up eye-popping numbers—his first hit, a home run, came against the Boston Braves in his fourth game in the majors—but won the title of Rookie of the Year, the first of many honors.
He also earned his nickname “The Say Hey Kid” during his freshman year. It was given to him either by his manager, Leo Durocher, or by New York Journal American writer Barney Kremenko, who said he gave Mays the name because the shy first-year player “let slip ‘Say who.’ , “Say what”. ,’ ‘Say where’, ‘Say hello.’ In my journal, I gave him the “Say Hey Kid” tab. It got stuck.”
Mays spoke and sang on 1954’s “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song),” recorded by the Treniers, with music legend Quincy Jones conducting.
Mays didn’t get a chance to follow up on his promising MLB debut until 1954, after serving two years in the Army during the Korean War. He spent most of his time (the majority of 1952 and all of 1953) playing on military baseball teams with other MLB players and traveling to entertain the troops.
When he returned home in 1954, the change had been made. Mays had the best season of his career, hitting .345/.411/.667 with 41 home runs. He won the MVP award and was selected to the All-Star Game.
Although it was his best season overall, he had many great ones after that. From 1955 to 1966, Mays finished in the top six in MVP voting in all but one year, winning MVP again in 1965 and placing second twice. He was selected to the All-Star Game 20 times during his career (24 times if you count the second All-Star Games from 1959 to 1962). He won All-Star MVP honors in 1963 and 1968, becoming the first player to win the award twice, and also won 12 Gold Gloves.
Despite his prolific hitting, Mays said he loves playing more than anything else.
“Don’t get me wrong: I like to hit,” he told the Sporting News in 1955. “But there’s nothing like going out in the outfield, chasing a ball and kicking someone out to try to take that extra base is really fun.”
As a player, he set many records on the field, but one record off the field set an important precedent for future players. On February 20, 1963, he signed a contract with the Giants worth $100,000 per year, the first six-figure contract in baseball history.
The most beautiful shot ever taken
Despite his success on the field, Mays won only one World Series during his 24-year career, with the 1954 New York Giants, who swept the Cleveland Indians (now known as the Guardians). This series gave us one of the most iconic and greatest plays in MLB history: Mays’ famous over-the-shoulder catch.
The play, still known simply as “The Catch”, took place during the first game at the Giants’ stadium, the Polo Grounds. The score was 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning and the bases were loaded with Guardians players. Cleveland’s Vic Wertz came to bat and smashed a ball into the stadium’s cavernous center field. Mays, running at full speed from the shallow center toward the wall, managed to find the ball and make a stunning no-look catch. Then he turned around in no time and made a throw to second base, which prevented the runners from scoring.
Mays said he hasn’t rated his plays on the field (“I don’t compare them. I just catch them,” he said via ESPN), but The Catch is still considered one of the best of all time.
And Mays never doubted the ball would fall into his glove.
“I had it all the way,” he said.
Mays’ later life
Mays began a slow decline in the late 1960s, although he still posted a National League-best .425 OBP in 1971. The Giants traded him to the Mets in May 1972, after which he finally playing in front of New York crowds again. .
Although Mays was not named an All-Star in 1972 for the first time in his career, he earned one final nomination in 1973, his final season.
After retiring, he became the Mets’ hitting coach until 1979, when he terminated his baseball contract to become a greeter at an Atlantic City hotel and casino. Then-commissioner Bowie Kuhn banned Mays from playing baseball because of his ties to the game, but he was reinstated in 1985 by Peter Ueberroth, Kuhn’s successor.
The Giants, who retired Mays’ number in 1972, signed him to a lifetime contract in the 1990s, making him a permanent special assistant to the president. He spent years visiting the Giants’ minor league teams, attending spring training and making appearances on behalf of the club.
Mays is survived by his son, Michael. Mays married his wife, Mae Louise Allen Mays, in the early 1970s. She died in 2013 after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
Mays’ legacy
Mays was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility. It was a surprise that it was not unanimous. Twenty-three BBWAA members did not select him on their ballots, giving Mays 94.68% of the vote.
New York Daily News writer Dick Young was stunned.
“If Jesus Christ showed up with his old baseball glove, some guys wouldn’t vote for him,” Young wrote. “He dropped the cross three times, didn’t he?”
Despite those 23 fewer votes, Mays was revered in the industry. Years after his retirement, many baseball announcers from that era still considered him the best all-around player they had ever seen.
His first manager, Leo Durocher, maintained over the years that Mays arrived in the majors fully formed as a legend.
“I never taught him anything,” Durocher said. “He taught me. Willie is the greatest player I’ve ever seen. There’s no doubt in my mind about that.”
Warren Spahn, who threw the ball that became Mays’ first major league hit (a home run), reflected on the moment years later.
“He was something like 0 for 21 the first time I saw him. His first major league hit was a home run against me – and I’ll never forgive myself for that. Maybe we could have rid us of Willie forever if I had I only hit him.” (Note: Mays was 0 for 12 when he first faced Spahn.)
Even celebrities realized how talented Mays was.
“I can’t stand Willie Mays,” Dodgers fan Cary Grant said in 1971. “Imagine knowing when a guy is going to hit the ball and how far and where and how fast it’s going to drop at any given moment and be there when it happens.
Actress Tallulah Bankhead summed it up simply: “There have only been two true geniuses in the world: Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare. »
In 2015, Mays received the highest honor the government can bestow on a civilian: the Presidential Medal of Freedom. When he received the award from President Barack Obama, he joined Ernie Banks, Yogi Berra and Stan Musial as the only baseball players to receive the nation’s highest civilian honor.