Willie Mays

Willie Mays, nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid" and "The Iconic Man", was an American professional baseball center fielder. Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The Sporting News and ESPN. Mays played in the National League (NL) between 1951 and 1973 for the New York / San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

Born in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was an all-around athlete. He joined the Birmingham 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 Major League Baseball (MLB) with the Giants on May 25, 1951, then later that season won the Rookie of the Year Award after hitting 20 home runs to help the Giants win their first pennant in 14 years.

In 1954, he won the NL 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 a mid-season trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring after the team's trip to the 1973 World Series, after which he then served as a Mets coach for the rest of the decade and later rejoined the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager.

A 24-time All-Star, tying him for the second most in history, Mays became a perennial MVP candidate, finishing in the top six in the voting in eleven of the next twelve seasons, twice as runner-up in 1958 and 1962. 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 (RBI) 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, with his 179 steals during the decade topping 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 batting average of .302. 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 extra-inning home runs (22), 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 in 2015.

Family

Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, a primarily black company town near Fairfield. His father, Cat Mays, was a talented baseball player with the black team at the local iron plant. Annie Satterwhite, his mother, was a gifted high school basketball and track star. His parents never married and separated when Mays was three. His father raised him and two aunts, Sarah and Ernestine.

Mays became the third husband of Marghuerite Wendell Chapman (1926–2010) in 1956. The couple adopted a five-day-old baby named Michael in 1959. They separated in 1962 and divorced in 1963, with Marghuerite taking Michael for the majority of the time.

Eight years later, Mays married Mae Louise Allen, a child-welfare worker in San Francisco. Wilt Chamberlain had given Mays her phone number in 1961, and they dated off and on the next several years. In 1997, she was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease; Mays cared for her devotedly until her death on April 19, 2013. (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0)

Sources

• Ancestry.com. U.S., Professional Baseball Player Profiles, 1876-2004 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations Inc, 2004.
  • Name: Willie Mays; Birth name: Willie Howard Mays; Nickname: Say Hey; Birth Place: Alabama, United States; Birth Year: 1931; Height: 5'11"; Weight: 180 lbs.; First game date: 25 May 1951; Final game date: 08 Sep 1973; Bats: Right; Throws: Right; Draft: Not Applicable.
• Goldstein, Richard. "Willie Mays, Electrifying Ballplayer of Power and Grace, Dies at 93." The New York Times, published 18 June 2024. < link > Accessed 18 June 2024.
• "Mays Find $15 For Speeding To His Own Wedding." The Daily Sentinel-Tribune via Newspapers.com, published 15 February 1956, p. 10. < link > Accessed 19 June 2024.
• "Willie Mays." Wikipedia, revision of 18 June 2024. < link > Accessed 18 June 2024.