Giants legend Willie Mays Dies at 93
By Liz Roscher, Staff writer
Willie Mays
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 be tween, he spent 21 years with the New York Giants, who would later move to San Francisco.
It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away peace fully this afternoon at the age of 93. pic.twitter.com/Qk4NySCFZQ — SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024. Mays' death triggered an outpouring of tributes, for both his deco rated playing career and his impact on everything else around baseball. Early interest in baseball.
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.
By the time he was in high school, Mays starred in several sports. His professional baseball career began in 1948, when he played for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro League before he had finished high school. He signed with the Giants after he graduated high school in 1950 and earned his call-up to the majors in May 1951 after barely a year of playing in the minors.
Mays was a true five tool player, excelling at speed, throwing, fielding, hitting for average and hit ting for power. He had a career triple-slash line of .301/.384/.557, with 660 home runs, 525 doubles and 338 stolen bases. He was the NL stolen-base leader four times and led the NL in homers four times. Over 24 seasons in the majors, he grounded into just 45 double plays.
In May, 10 hits were added to Mays’ career total when Negro League stats were officially integrated into MLB’s historical record. His home run total was not adjusted due to the lack of box scores from those games.
In the grand scheme of his career, it didn’t take long for Mays to become the amazing all-around player we re member today, but it wasn’t instantaneous. He debuted on May 25, 1951, and didn’t put up overwhelming numbers — his first hit, a home run, came against the Boston Braves in his fourth game in the majors — but won Rookie of the Year, the first of many accolades.
He also earned his nick name, “The Say Hey Kid,” in his rookie year. It was given to him by either his manager, Leo Durocher, or writer Barney Kremenko of the New York Journal American, who said he gave Mays that name be cause the shy, first-year player "would blurt 'Say who,' 'Say what,' 'Say where,' 'Say hey.' In my paper, I tabbed him the 'Say Hey Kid.' It stuck."
Mays spoke and sang backup on “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song)” in 1954, recorded by the Treniers, with music leg end Quincy Jones con ducting the orchestra.
Mays didn’t get the chance to follow up on his promising MLB debut un til 1954, after he served two years in the Army during the Korean War. He spent most of that time (the ma jority of 1952 and all of 1953) playing on military baseball teams with other MLB players and traveling around to entertain the troops.