So Long, No. 24. Baseball Great Willie Mays Dies at Age 93 (2024)

1931-2024

Willie Mays was one of the great baseball players in history. The Alabama native began his professional baseball career in the Negro Leagues before joining the New York Giants in 1951. Celebrated for his superb all-around play, the center fielder was twice named MVP and remains among the all-time leaders in home runs and hits. Mays, whose nickname was the “Say Hey Kid,” was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and later became a special assistant to the Giants organization. He died in June 2024 at age 93.

FULL NAME: Willie Howard Mays Jr.
BORN: May 6, 1931
DIED: June 18, 2024
BIRTHPLACE: Westfield, Alabama
SPOUSES: Margherite Wendall Chapman (1956-1963) and Mae Louise Allen Mays (1971-2013)
CHILD: Michael
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Taurus

Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born on May 6, 1931, in the African American mill town of Westfield, Alabama. The only child of Willie Sr., a semi-pro ballplayer nicknamed “Cat,” and Annie Satterwhite, a champion high school sprinter, Willie Jr. grew up under the close watch of two aunts after his parents’ relationship dissolved.

After moving to nearby Fairfield with his father, Willie Jr. became a bat boy and occasional player for the Fairfield Stars in the Birmingham Industrial League alongside Willie Sr. In addition to his baseball prowess, the gifted teenage athlete starred on the football and basketball teams at Fairfield Industrial High School.

In 1948, the same year Jackie Robinson broke the MLB’s color barrier, 16-year-old Mays began playing for the Birmingham Black Barons of the professional Negro Leagues on weekends. His part-time schedule with the team allowed him to remain in school.

Watch the documentary Say Hey, Willie Mays! on Max

National League Rookie of the Year

Mays signed with the New York Giants after graduating from high school in 1950 and was sent to the minors. He played well despite enduring segregated living conditions and racial taunts from fans (experiences that continued into his MLB career), and after hitting .477 through 35 games with the Minneapolis Millers, he joined the big leagues in May 1951.

Mays got off to a slow start with the Giants, collecting a home run off Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn as his lone hit in his first seven games. But the speedy center fielder made an immediate impression with his breathtaking defensive ability, and eventually, he proved a capable hitter as well. After helping the Giants reach the World Series, he was named the National League Rookie of the Year.

“The Catch”

Called to serve in the U.S. Army early in the 1952 season, Mays continued honing his skills on a military team in Virginia. He returned to the MLB in 1954 to hit a league-leading .345 with 41 home runs en route to National League MVP honors.

He capped the 1954 season with one of the most famous defensive plays in history, running down a mammoth drive to deep center field in Game 1 of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians (now Guardians). Mays caught the ball over his shoulder while still on the move before spinning around and throwing it back to the infield to prevent a run. “The Catch” helped the Giants beat their favored opponent for the championship.

“Say Hey” Hall of Famer

Mays blasted a league-leading 51 home runs in 1955, and the following year, he won his first of four consecutive stolen base titles. In addition to being arguably the top all-around player in the game, he was a hero in his Harlem community and famously played stickball with the local kids. Throughout New York City, baseball fans debated whether Mays, Mickey Mantle of the New York Yankees, or Duke Snider of the Brooklyn Dodgers was the best slugger.

The community ties were severed when the Giants moved to San Francisco after the 1957 season, but Mays remained a top draw in his new ballpark. In 1961, he became the ninth player to hit four home runs in a single game, and the following year, he pushed the Giants to the brink of a World Series triumph before a close loss to the New York Yankees. He collected his second MVP award after socking a career-best 52 home runs in 1965.

Beyond his indisputable stats, Mays was an entertaining athlete who knew how to play up drama on the baseball diamond. He requested a baseball cap that could easily be caught by the wind and fly off as he ran around the outfield. His cheerful exuberance and frequent turn of phrase “say, hey” earned him the nickname the “Say Hey Kid.” Still, he was serious about the game and became known for his trademark basket catch, with his glove near his waist, that allowed him to more quickly throw the ball to the infield.

Traded to the New York Mets during the 1972 season, Mays helped the team advance to the World Series in 1973 before announcing his retirement that September. His age had caught up with him in his final seasons, and he saw a noticeable drop-off in his batting ability as he dealt with nagging injuries. Mays was 42 years old when he retired.

The former center fielder was easily inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame just six years later, during his first year of eligibility. He continued to collect honors for decades to come.

Mays recorded 23 seasons as a professional baseball player, including his first season in the Negro Leagues. Partway through his 21^st season with the Giants, he was traded to the New York Mets were he spend the remainder of his career. To this day, the former center fielder is among the all-time leaders for home runs, runs scored, and hits.

Mays’ regular season career stats, including from his one season in the Negro Leagues, totaled:

• Games: 3,005
• Hits: 3,293 (No. 12 all-time)
• Runs: 2,068 (No. 7 all-time)
• Home runs: 660 (No. 6 all-time)
• Batting average: .301
• Putouts: 7,752

In the postseason, Mays appeared in 25 games, during which he secured 12 runs and 1 home run off of 22 hits. He won the World Series with the Giants in 1954 and made it to the championship with the team on two other occasions, in 1951 and 1962. His fourth and final World Series appearance was in 1973 as the New York Mets lost to the Oakland Athletics.

The “Say Hey Kid” was named the National League Rookie of the Year in 1951 and earned the league’s MVP honors twice, in 1954 and 1965. He recorded 12 consecutive Gold Gloves for fielding excellence, an award that was first introduced in 1957, three years after “The Catch.” Mays was among the inaugural class of recipients. Additionally, he was selected for the All-Star Game a record-tying 24 times, alongside Hank Aaron and Stan Musial.

His skyrocketing fame was accompanied by equally large increases in his salary. His initial deal with the New York Giants in 1950 came with a $4,000 signing bonus and $250 monthly salary. Around the mid-1950s, Mays was making $25,000, and in 1962, he signed a $90,000 single-season contract. Mays became the highest-paid baseball player in the 1963 season, earning $105,000. By 1972, his salary was approximately $160,000 per year. His trade to the New York Mets came with a $175,000 annual salary for the rest of his playing career as well as $50,000 per year to coach once he retired.

Mays is one of 14 players whose number, 24, has been retired by multiple teams. The Giants bestowed the honor in 1972, followed by the Mets in August 2022. He was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

In 1972, Mays formed the Say Hey Foundation to help underprivileged children through education and community support. He also penned several books, including Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays (1988) and 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid (2020).

Mays stayed with the Mets organization as a hitting instructor through 1979, but after he accepted a public relations job with Bally’s Atlantic City casino in New Jersey, he was banned from baseball-related events. Reinstated by Commissioner Peter Ueberroth in 1985, Mays was named a special assistant to the Giants organization the following year, a position that became a lifetime appointment in 1993.

In 2000, the Giants dedicated a statue of the baseball icon outside the team’s new ballpark at 24 Willie Mays Plaza. He received an array of awards in subsequent years, including honorary degrees from Yale University and Dartmouth College, and was inducted into the California Sports Hall of Fame in 2007. In 2015, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama.

Toward the end of his life, Mays participated in the HBO documentary Say Hey, Willie Mays! (2022) about his baseball career and beyond. His son, Michael, godson Barry Bonds, and many others were also interviewed for the movie.

Mays lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for many years before moving to Palo Alto, California, in his last years.

Willie was married twice, most recently to Mae Louise Allen Mays. The couple wed in November 1971 after meeting in New York. When Willie called to ask Mae for their first date, she didn’t believe it was really him. Despite his assurance, she replied, “Yes, and I’m Martha Washington.” Willie and Mae were married for more than 41 years, until her death in 2013 from Alzheimer’s disease.

Willie’s first wife was Margherite Wendall Chapman. The pair married in 1956 and adopted a son, Michael, in 1959. However, their relationship didn’t last, and they divorced in 1963.

The famous center fielder also had a close relationship with his godson, Barry Bonds. Mays and Bonds’ father, Bobby, played together on the Giants, the team that Barry later joined. Barry surpassed his godfather on the all-time home runs list in the 2004 season, though he was in the midst of a years-long scandal connecting him to possible performance-enhancing drug use.

• When I’m not hitting, I don’t hit nobody. But, when I’m hitting, I hit anybody.
• In the minors, I’m hitting .477, killing everybody. And I came to the majors, I couldn’t hit. I was playing the outfield very, very well, throwing out everybody, but I just couldn’t get a hit.
• Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truly is is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.
• When I played ball, I tried to make sure everybody enjoyed what I was doing. I made the clubhouse guy fit me a cap that when I ran, the wind gets up in the bottom, and it flies right off. People love that kind of stuff.

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