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Willie Mays

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Mays was a five-tool player who began his career in the Negro leagues, playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, and spent the rest of his career in the National League (NL), playing for the New York / San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

For other people with similar names, see William Mays.

Willie Mays

3,293

660

94.7% (first ballot)

Born in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was an all-around athlete. He joined the Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948, playing with them until the Giants signed him upon his graduation from high school in 1950. He debuted in MLB with the Giants and won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951 after hitting 20 home runs to help the Giants win their first pennant in 14 years. In 1954, he won the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, leading the Giants to their last World Series title before their move to the West Coast. His over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on to win another MVP Award in 1965 and also led the Giants to the 1962 World Series, this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended his career with a return to New York after an early season trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring after the team's trip to the 1973 World Series. He served as a coach for the Mets for the rest of the decade before rejoining the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager.


Mays was an All-Star 24 times, tying for the second-most appearances in history. He led the NL in home runs four times and in slugging percentage five times while batting over .300 and posting 100 runs batted in (RBIs) ten times each. Mays was also at the forefront of a resurgence of speed as an offensive weapon in the 1950s, leading the league in stolen bases four times, triples three times, and runs twice; his 179 steals during the decade topped the major leagues. He was the first NL player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, the first player in history to reach both 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, and the second player and the first right-handed hitter to hit 600 home runs. Mays also set standards for defensive brilliance, winning 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards after their creation in 1957, still a record for outfielders; he led NL center fielders in double plays five times and assists three times.


A classic example of a five-tool player, Mays finished his career with a .302 batting average. At the time of his retirement, he held the NL record for career runs scored (2,062), and ranked second in league history behind Stan Musial in games played (2,992), third in home runs (660), at bats (10,881), runs batted in (1,903), total bases (6,066), extra-base hits (1,323) and walks (1,464), fourth in hits (3,293), fifth in slugging percentage (.557), and eighth in doubles (523); his 140 triples ranked fourth among players active after 1945. He holds major league records for games as a center fielder (2,829), putouts as an outfielder (7,095), and ended his career behind only Ty Cobb in total games as an outfielder (2,842), ranking seventh in assists (188) and third in double plays (59) in center field. Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility, and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.

Early life[edit]

Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, a primarily black company town near Fairfield.[1] His father, Cat Mays, was a talented baseball player with the black team at the local iron plant.[2][3] Annie Satterwhite, his mother, was a gifted high school basketball and track star.[4] To his family and close friends, and later to his teammates, Mays was affectionately referred to as "Buck."[5]


His parents never married and separated when Mays was three.[6] His father and two aunts, Sarah and Ernestine raised him.[a] Sarah took young Willie to an African Methodist Episcopal Church every Sunday.[10] Cat Mays worked as a railway porter and later at the steel mills in Westfield.[11]


Cat exposed Willie to baseball at an early age, playing catch with him at five and allowing him to sit on the bench with his Birmingham Industrial League team at ten.[12] His favorite baseball player growing up was Joe DiMaggio; other favorites were Ted Williams and Stan Musial.[13] Mays played several sports at Fairfield Industrial High School. On the basketball team, he led players at all-black high schools in Jefferson County in scoring.[14] Mays played quarterback, fullback and punter for the football team.[15] Though he turned 18 in 1949, Mays did not graduate from Fairfield until 1950, which journalist Allen Barra calls "a minor mystery in Willie's life".[16]

Professional career[edit]

Negro and minor leagues[edit]

Mays's professional baseball career began in 1948 when he played briefly during the summer with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, a Negro minor league team.[17][18] Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, where he was known as "Buck".[19] The Black Barons were managed by Piper Davis, a teammate of Mays's father on the industrial team.[20] When Fairfield Industrial principal E. T. Oliver threatened to suspend Mays for playing professional ball, Davis and Mays's father worked out an agreement. Mays would only play home games for the Black Barons. In return, he could still play high school football.[21] Mays helped Birmingham advance to the 1948 Negro World Series, which they lost 4–1 to the Homestead Grays. He hit .262 for the season and stood out because of his excellent fielding and base running.[22] On May 28, 2024, Major League Baseball announced that it had integrated Negro league statistics into its records.[23]


Several major league teams were interested in signing Mays, but they had to wait until he graduated from high school to offer him a contract. The Boston Braves and the Brooklyn Dodgers both scouted him, but New York Giants scout Eddie Montague signed him to a $4,000 contract.[24] Mays spent the rest of 1950 with the Class B Trenton Giants of the Interstate League, batting .353.[25] Promoted to the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers of the American Association in 1951, he batted .477 in 35 games.[26]

Player profile[edit]

The batting stance Mays employed showed the influence of one of his childhood favorites, Joe DiMaggio. Like his hero, Mays would stand with his legs spread apart, placing the same amount of weight on both while holding the bat high. His right thumb would stick out in the air as he waited for pitches, but he wrapped it around the bat as he swung. Mays believed this late motion added power when he swung.[202] Mays channelled his energies into the swing by abstaining from extra motion and opening his hips. "If there was a machine to measure each swing of a bat," Branch Rickey suggested, "it would be proven that Mays swings with more power and bat speed, pitch for pitch, than any other player."[203] His focus extended to his antics, or lack thereof, at the plate; Mays did not rub dirt on his hands or stroll around the batter's box like some hitters did.[204] Naturally more of a pull hitter, Mays adjusted his style in 1954 to hit more to right and center field in a quest for a higher batting average at his manager's request, but the change was not permanent.[205] When the Giants moved to Candlestick Park, Mays found that pulling the ball worked better at home but hitting to right and center worked better on the road; he tried to adjust his style depending on where he was playing.[97]


Defensively, Mays was one of the best outfielders of all time, as evidenced by his record 12 Gold Gloves as an outfielder.[206] His signature play was his "basket catch," the technique that displayed Mays's stylistic flash as opposed to the pure raw skill that was on display when he made "The Catch" in the 1954 World Series.[69] Holding his glove around his belly, he would keep his palm turned up, enabling the ball to fall right into his glove. Sportswriters have argued about whether the technique made him a better fielder or just made him more exciting to watch, but the basket catch did not prevent Mays from setting a record with 7,095 outfield putouts.[207] Koppett observes, "His range was limitless, and his arm so strong that he could make effective throws from the most unlikely locations and from the most unlikely body positions."[34] That range allowed him to play a shallow center and prevent shallow singles, while still being able to get back and not let extra-base hits get over his head.[34]


Mays's flashy style of play stemmed partly from his days in the Negro leagues. "We were all entertainers," he said, "and my job was to give the fans something to talk about each game." Sometimes he would deliberately slip to the ground for catches to make them look tougher than they really were.[208] He wore his cap one size larger than necessary so that it would fly off when he was running the bases or making fielding plays.[69] Though he was a powerful hitter, he had a knack for stealing bases. He ran the bases daringly, becoming the only modern player to score from first base on a single to left field, and another time scoring from first base on a McCovey bunt (without an error).[209]

Cultural effect[edit]

Along with Mantle (of the Yankees) and Snider (of the Dodgers), Mays was part of a triumvirate of center fielders from the New York teams of the 1950s who would be elected to the Hall of Fame. The three were often the subject of debates among the New York fans as to who was the best center fielder in the city.[234]


Mays was a popular figure in Harlem, New York's predominantly black neighborhood and the home of the Polo Grounds. Magazine photographers were fond of chronicling his participation in local stickball games with kids, which he played two to three nights a week during homestands until his first marriage in 1956.[235] In the urban game of hitting a rubber ball with an adapted broomstick handle, Mays could hit a shot that measured "five sewers" (the distance of six consecutive New York City manhole covers), nearly 450 feet (140 m).[236]


Unlike other black athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Mays tended to remain silent on racial issues, refraining from public complaints about discriminatory practices that affected him.[237] Robinson once accused him and some of his teammates of not doing enough for the civil rights movement.[238] Hank Aaron wished Mays had spoken out more on racial issues. Mays believed his job was to play baseball, not talk about social issues. "I'm a ballplayer. I am not a politician or a writer or a historian. I can do best for my people by doing what I do best."[239]

Death[edit]

Mays died of heart failure at a care home in Palo Alto, California, on June 18, 2024, aged 93.[286][287] The day before, he had released his final public statement when he said he chose to stay in California and not attend the MLB at Rickwood Field game between the Giants and Cardinals later that week on June 20.[288][289]


Several politicians and professional athletes paid tribute to Mays, including President Joe Biden and former president Barack Obama, as well as San Francisco mayor London Breed, and California governor Gavin Newsom.[290][291][292] Fans also left tributes and paid their respects at Mays' statue outside Oracle Park.[293]


On June 21, 2024, during the game at Rickwood Field, the San Francisco Giants wore a patch with "24" on it in Mays' honor and his Hall of Fame plaque was brought over to the place where Mays began his career. Michael Mays, his son, spoke before the game and tribute video was played on the video board before the first pitch by Bill Greason, Mays' former teammate in the Negro leagues.[294]

Rushin, Steve (July 9, 2021). . Sports Illustrated.

"The Last Giant: The Cultural Clout of Willie Mays"

Sheinin, Dave (August 17, 2021). . The Washington Post.

"Willie Mays broke barries his own way"

Gopnik, Adam (June 21, 2024). . The New Yorker.

"What Willie Mays Meant"

Career statistics and player information from , or ESPN, or Baseball Reference, or Fangraphs, or Baseball Reference (Minors), or Retrosheet, or Seamheads

MLB

at the Baseball Hall of Fame

Willie Mays

at the SABR Baseball Biography Project

Willie Mays

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Willie Mays