Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid" was an American Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder. He spent almost all of his 22 season career playing for the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets. His career began in 1951 and he retired in 1973.
Mays was born in Westfield, Alabama, near Bessemer, Alabama.
Mays was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in 1979 and was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.
In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News's "List of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players", placing second to Babe Ruth.[1] Later that year, fans elected him to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team.[2] In 2020, The Athletic ranked Mays at number 1 on its "Baseball 100" list.[3] In 2022, MLB.com writers voted Mays as being the greatest player in Giants franchise history.[4]
Roberto Clemente said of Mays: "To me, Willie Mays is the greatest who ever played."[5]
Mays died of heart failure on June 18, 2024 in Palo Alto, California at the age of 93.[6]
Willie Mays Media
1952 Bowman Willie Mays
New York Giants centerfielder and Hall of Famer en:Willie Mays in a 1954 issue of Baseball Digest.
Mays in his later years with the Giants
Mays (right) with Maury Wills, Milton Berle, and Jimmy Piersall in 1967
Mays with the Mets in 1972
Mays with Queen Elizabeth II (left) and President Gerald Ford (center) at the White House in 1976.
Mays at the final game at Shea Stadium on September 28, 2008
Mays and President Barack Obama aboard Air Force One, July 14, 2009
.jpg)
References
- ↑ "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players: No. 2, Willie Mays". The Sporting News. April 26, 1999. http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/100/index-2.html.
- ↑ The All-Century Team. MLB.com. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
- ↑ Posnanski, Joe (April 13, 2020). "The Baseball 100: No. 1, Willie Mays". The Athletic. https://theathletic.com/1740980/2020/04/13/the-baseball-100-no-1-willie-mays/.
- ↑ Every MLB team's greatest player ever. MLB.com (January 8, 2022).
- ↑ Wagenheim, Kal. Clemente! (1974)Pocket Books. p. 194–95. ISBN 978-1558765276.
- ↑ Shea, John (June 19, 2024). "'Willie Mays, San Francisco Giants legend and MLB all-time great, is dead'". San Francisco Chronicle. http://www.sfchronicle.com/sports/giants/article/willie-mays-dead-obituary-17815215.php. Retrieved June 19, 2024.
Other websites
Media related to Willie Mays at Wikimedia Commons
Quotations related to Willie Mays at Wikiquote
- Career statistics and player information from MLB, or ESPN, or Baseball-Reference, or Fangraphs, or The Baseball Cube, or Baseball-Reference (Minors)
- Willie Mays article, Encyclopedia of Alabama Archived 2013-10-06 at the Wayback Machine
- May 1951: Minneapolis Tribune account of Mays' first home game as a Minneapolis Miller[dead link]
- Willie Mays: Say Hey! Archived 2009-10-04 at the Wayback Machine – slideshow by Life magazine
This short article about a sports person can be made longer. You can help Wikipedia by adding to it.