Posted on 06/19/2024 9:16:35 AM PDT by Impala64ssa
Willie Mays, the iconic Hall of Fame center fielder who is known as the greatest all-around baseball player, died Tuesday, the San Francisco Giants announced. He was 93 years old.
Mays, nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid,” had a professional baseball career that spanned four decades, beginning with the Negro Leagues in the late 1940s and ending with the New York Mets in 1972. In between, he spent 21 years with the New York Giants, who would later move to San Francisco.
Mays was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, and named Willie, not William. Both his parents were talented athletes, but his father was the one who introduced Mays to baseball. Cat Mays was a semi-pro player on several local Black teams and had his son sitting in the dugout with him at 10 after teaching him the fundamentals years before.
(Excerpt) Read more at sports.yahoo.com ...
93 is a great long life.....he musta had the common sense to avoid the clot shot.
RIP
In 1956 or so my father took me to a pro ball game. I was a big Yankee fan as Mantle was my hero. He took me to a NY Giants game. Willie hit a homer. I liked Willie ok, but; my father knew I was a Yankee fan. I sulked through the game.
I was fortunate enough to be at at Candlestick Park to watch him hit an inside-the-park homer. An a-MAYS-ing player.
A saw several games at Candlestick Park in the late 1960s to early 1970s with my dad when the Cardinals were in town. Mays, McCovey, Marichal, Perry, Gibson, Brock, Carlton, ...
Willie habitually lost his hat while running the bases. He said he did it on purpose because “People come to the game to be entertained.”
RIP, Willie. You were one of the greatest ball players ever, and you had a lot of class and decency. You will be missed.
By the way, the article is wrong - he was with the Mets in 1973, when they were in the World Series, I remember that like it was yesterday.
Chesterfield, one of the sponsors of classic radio Dragnet.
One of the greatest players ever passes two days before teh Rickwood Field game in his honor. (He broke in with the Birmingham Black Barons.)
I grew up idolizing Mickey Mantle, but I knew how great Mays was.
At one point, the three best center fielders in baseball all played in New York.
Rip
Memory Eternal!
Condolences to family and friends of Willie Mays. R.I.P., sir
Willie could run , hit , hit with power , had a great arm and was a fielding wizard.Best all around player in my life time.
Rest in peace Buck.
His playing weight never exceeded 210 pounds.
He also played a key role in the finest pitched game in history: 7/2/1963, the epic duel between Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn. Willie hit the home run that won it for the Giants in the bottom of the 16th inning, 1-0. Both pitchers pitched complete games.
I went to a game in Houston the year the Astrodome opened (1965). The high flying Giants pummeled the lowly Astros 10-1 that day, with Juan Marichal on the mound. The highlight of the day was seeing Willie Mays hit a monster home run to dead center field, which very few accomplished in the old Astrodome, where majestic, well hit fly balls mostly died on the warning track.
Had the thrill of meeting Willie in the 80’s at a few golf tournaments. Always a class act.
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