KidzSearch Wiki

Willie Mays

Mays in 1961

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

References

  1. ↑ "Baseball's 100 Greatest Players: No. 2, Willie Mays". The Sporting News. April 26, 1999. http://www.sportingnews.com/baseball/100/index-2.html. 
  2. ↑ "The All-Century Team". MLB.com. Archived from the original on January 19, 2010. Retrieved February 15, 2007.
  3. ↑ 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/. 
  4. ↑ "Every MLB team's greatest player ever". MLB.com. January 8, 2022.
  5. ↑ Wagenheim, Kal (1974). Clemente!. Pocket Books. pp. 194–95. ISBN 978-1558765276.
  6. ↑ 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


Retrieved from "https://wiki.kidzsearch.com/w/index.php?title=Willie_Mays&oldid=5724231"