Willie Mays

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former professional baseball center fielder, who spent almost all of his 22-season Major League Baseball (MLB) career playing for the New York/San Francisco Giants, before finishing with the New York Mets. He is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. Born in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was raised by his father, Cat, who played baseball in the Birmingham Industrial League. The younger Mays began playing professional baseball in 1948, first with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, then with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League. He participated in the 1948 Negro World Series, then was signed by the Giants once he graduated high school in 1950. Mays made his MLB debut in 1951, and after getting only one hit in his first 25 at bats, went on to win the Rookie of the Year Award. Drafted by the United States Army for the Korean War over the offseason, he spent most of the 1952 and 1953 seasons in the military. Returning to the Giants in 1954, Mays was named the National League (NL) Most Valuable Player (MVP) after leading the NL in batting with a .345 batting average. He made one of the most famous plays of all-time in the 1954 World Series when he made an over-the-shoulder catch of a Vic Wertz fly ball to keep the Cleveland Indians from taking the lead in Game 1. The Giants swept the Indians, the lone World Series triumph of Mays's career. Mays led the NL with 51 home runs in 1955. In 1956, he stole 40 bases, the first of four years in a row he would lead the NL in that category. He won his first of 12 Gold Glove Awards in 1957, a record for outfielders. The Giants moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season, and Mays nearly won the batting title in his first year in the Bay Area, hitting a career-high .347 but losing out to Richie Ashburn on the final day of the season. He batted over .300 for the next two seasons, leading the league in hits in 1960. After leading the NL with 129 runs scored in 1961, Mays led the NL in home runs in 1962 as the Giants won the NL pennant and faced the New York Yankees in the World Series, which the Giants lost in seven games. By 1963, Mays was making over $100,000 a year. In 1964, he was named the captain of the Giants by manager Alvin Dark, leading the NL with 47 home runs that year. He hit 52 the next year, leading the NL and winning his second MVP award. He hit 37 home runs in 1966, the last of 10 seasons in which he had over 100 runs batted in. Bothered by the flu in 1967, Mays batted .263 with 22 home runs. He batted .289 in 1968 but was moved to the leadoff position in the lineup in 1969 because he was not hitting as many home runs. He hit the 600th of his career that season, though, and he got his 3,000th hit in 1970. In 1971, he reached the playoffs for the first time in nine years as the Giants won the NL West but were eliminated by the Pittsburgh Pirates in the NL Championship Series. Traded to the Mets in 1972, Mays received a standing ovation on his return to New York. The oldest position player in the NL by that year, he spent the rest of 1972 and 1973 with the Mets, playing in the 1973 World Series in his final season. Over his career, he was selected to 24 All-Star Games, the second-most of all-time (tied with Stan Musial, behind Hank Aaron's 25). Mays finished his career batting 302 with 660 home runs, the fifth-most of all-time, and 1,903 RBI. He holds MLB records for most putouts (7,095) and most extra-inning home runs (22). In 1979, his first year of eligibility, he was elected to the Hall of Fame. Mays had continued to work for the Mets as a hitting instructor, but he was banned from baseball that year by commissioner Bowie Kuhn after accepting a job with a casino, even though the position did not involve Mays actually participating in gambling. The ban lasted six years, before new commissioner Peter Ueberroth lifted it in 1985. Mays's number 24 was retired by the Giants in 1972, and the team re-hired him in 1986. In 1993, Mays signed a lifetime contract with the Giants; he currently serves as a Special Assistant to the President and General Manager. Oracle Park, the Giants' home stadium, is located on 24 Willie Mays Plaza. Considered by many experts, coaches, and fellow players to be one of the greatest players of all-time, Mays was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999 and ranked second on The Sporting News 's "List of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players," behind only Babe Ruth. He has been invited to the White House on several occasions and was presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. In 2017, MLB named the World Series Most Valuable Player Award after him. "If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases and performed a miracle in the field every day, I’d still look you in the eye and say Willie was better," manager Leo Durocher said of him.

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