1959. Snoop Dogg is first cousins with a professional wrestler, Sasha Banks. [66][67] Mays was selected for the NL All-Star team; he would be part of 24 straight NL All-Star teams over 20 seasons. [113][114] "I don't like to talk about 1960," Mays said after the final game of a season in which the Giants, pre-season favorites for the pennant, finished fifth out of eight NL teams. He's a member of the 3,000-hit club. View Player Bio from the SABR BioProject. "[270], After Mays retired as a player, he remained in the New York Mets organization as their hitting instructor until the end of the 1979 season. "[257] Sportscaster Curt Gowdy said of Mays, "Willie Mays was the best player I ever saw. [146] Johnson kicked him in the head and nearly knocked him out. Willie Mays is turning 90, and no mistaking that number. [173] Mays picked up his 3,000th hit against the Montreal Expos on July 18. [133] The Series went all the way to a Game7, which the Yankees led 10 in the bottom of the ninth. [48], Horace Stoneham, the Giants' owner, made Mays the highest-paid player in baseball with a $75,000 contract for 1959. [273], In October 1979, Mays took a job at the Bally's Park Place casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey. The siblings have followed a similar path with their older cousin. [299] In 1972, Mays voiced himself in the animated fictional special Willie Mays and the Say-Hey Kid, produced by Rankin/Bass Productions. [38] The Polo Grounds featured an unusual horseshoe shape, with relatively short left field (280 feet (85m)) and right field (258 feet (79m)) lines but the deepest center field in baseball (483 feet (147m)). [177], Though center field remained his primary position in 1971, Mays played 48 games at first base. Mays won two National League (NL . [81][84] Leading the league with a .659 slugging percentage, Mays batted .319 as the Giants finished in third. The only child of Willie Sr., a semi-pro ballplayer nicknamed "Cat," and Annie. Here's a look at the life of Baseball Hall of Fame center fielder Willie Mays. You can grow up to be what you want. Willie's father was good-natured and spent a lot of time with his son Willie showing him the finer points of baseball. Willie Howard Mays, Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former Major League Baseball (MLB) center fielder who spent almost all of his 22-season career playing for the New York/San Francisco Giants, before finishing with the New York Mets. (Courtesy of Memphis Public Library) A childhood prodigy in baseball-rich Birmingham whose talents were well known locally for years, Mays officially broke into the Negro American League on July 4, 1948, signing a basic contract for $250 a month to play for the Black Barons. Willie Mays Siblings. He never drank, never smoked, watched his diet and rarely went clubbing. [38][41] Mays appeared in his first major league game on May25 against the Philadelphia Phillies at Shibe Park, batting third. Most of his earnings come from him being a famous baseball player who has contributed his life for his team named the New York Giants. "I'm a ballplayer. "[260] Hirsch wrote "It would be nave to think Mays never took amphetamines" but admits that Mays's amphetamine use has never been proven, calling Mays "the most famous player who supposedly took amphetamines". Mays also gets top billing in the title and when the names of the trio are sung in the refrain. [294] Through a friendship with Tony Owen and Donna Reed, he was able to appear in three episodes of The Donna Reed Show. The 1951 Bowman is the only recognized Willie Mays rookie card and one of the most valuable baseball cards in the hobby and easily among his most expensive. Willie Mays' siblings are Sarah and Ernestine. Heart disease was recognized as the "principal cause of death" in a . The Giants swept the heavily favored Cleveland Indians for the lone World Series triumph of his career, and the team's last title before relocating to San Francisco after the 1957 season. Vernard Adams, the Hillsborough County, Florida medical examiner, reported that Mays had hypertensive heart disease and that heart disease was most likely the cause of his death following the first autopsy on June 29, 2009. [130][131] The Giants faced the Dodgers in a three-game playoff series. Willie married Ida B. Mays (born McVey) on month day 1922, at age 18 at marriage place. "[241] "If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases and performed a miracle in the field every day, Id still look you in the eye and say Willie was better," Durocher said. 1, Willie Mays. Rigney stopped giving Mays as much direction, trusting his star player's ability and instinct. Kuhn was concerned about gambling infiltrating baseball, but Hirsch points out that Mays's role was merely as a greeter, he was not allowed to place bets at the casino as part of his contract, and the casino did not engage in sports betting. [308] Eight years later, Mays married Mae Louise Allen,[309] a child-welfare worker in San Francisco. I can do best for my people by doing what I do best. By 1963, he was making over $100,000 a year, setting a record at the time with a $105,000 contract. MLB held two All-Star Games a year from 1959 through 1962. On the basketball team, he led players at all-black high schools in Jefferson County in scoring. He was again named the MVP in 1965 after hitting .317 with a league-leading 52 home runs, becoming the second NL player to hit 50 more than once and setting a franchise record that stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. [71][72] Mays hit only five home runs after July 28 but upped his batting average from .326 to .345 to win the team's first batting title since Bill Terry's in 1930. [300] Charles M. Schulz's comic strip Peanuts mentioned Mays numerous times. [284] He was the Tee Ball Commissioner at the 2006 White House Tee Ball Initiative on July30, 2006, during George W. Bush's presidency. [301] "Centerfield" by John Fogerty, which is often played at major and minor league stadiums, mentions Mays, Cobb, and DiMaggio. "[242][243] Don Zimmer remarked, "In the National League in the 1950s, there were two opposing players who stood out over all the othersStan Musial and Willie Mays. [188][189] Mays quibbled with manager Charlie Fox, leaving the stadium before the start of a doubleheader on April30 without telling him. Even during their short-lived marriage, there were already . [151][152] Mays won his second MVP award in 1965 behind a career-high 52 home runs, in what Barra said "may very well have [been] his best year". Let's talk a little bit about why you should . He was the runner-up for the MVP in 1958 after hitting a career-high .347, and again in 1962 after leading the Giants to another World Series with 49 home runs and 141 RBI. The Giants again won the pennant and in the World Series, faced the Cleveland Indians - winners of an AL-record 111 games. Mays became the third husband of Marghuerite Wendell Chapman (19262010) in 1956. [178] Oracle Park, their stadium, is at 24Willie Mays Plaza. [234] He ran the bases daringly, becoming the only modern player to score from first base on a single to left field, and another time scoring from first base on a McCovey bunt (without an error). Willie Mays is a New York Giants legend, known for his all-around play. "[85], In 1956, Mays struggled at first to get along with new manager Bill Rigney, who publicly criticized him. Willie Mays has been married twice. Willie Mays Robinson was important to all blacks. [239], Fellow players and coaches recognized his talent. [48] In 1969, new Giants' manager Clyde King moved Mays to the leadoff position in the batting lineup because Mays was hitting fewer home runs. "[108][215] He scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning of the first All-Star Game of 1961 on a Clemente single in a 54 win for the NL. [136] On July2, when Spahn and Juan Marichal each threw 15 scoreless innings, Mays hit a 16th-inning home run off Spahn, giving the Giants a 10 victory. [15], Cat exposed Willie to baseball at an early age, playing catch with him at five and allowing him to sit on the bench with his Birmingham Industrial League team at ten. [282][283], Mays has met with United States Presidents. Willie Mays, born on May 6, 1931, was a professional baseball player, team captain, and instructor. [48][179] In the NL Championship Series (NLCS) against the Pirates, Mays had a home run and three RBI in the first two games. Willie Howard Mays Willie Mays (born 1931) Jump to: Biography Memories . [126][125] Whatever the reason, the boos, which had begun to subside after Mays's four-home run game in 1961, grew even quieter in 1962, as the Giants enjoyed their best season since moving to San Francisco. [8] Mays played in the National League (NL) between 1951 and 1973 for the New York/San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. "[150][g] The next night, Mays hit one that he considered his most dramatic. [271] Mays missed several appointments during these years and was often absent from Mets games. Career [192][274] In 1985, less than a year after replacing Kuhn as commissioner, Peter Ueberroth decided to allow Mays to return to baseball. [287][288], In September 2017, Major League Baseball renamed the World Series MVP Award the Willie Mays World Series MVP Award. After being told by Kuhn that he could not be part of both baseball and a casino, Mays terminated his contract with the Mets, and he was banned from baseball. [216] At Cleveland Stadium in the 1963 All-Star Game, he made the finest catch, snagging his foot under a wire fence in center field as he grasped a long fly ball hit by Joe Pepitone that might have given the AL the lead. [97] As he had in 1954, Mays vied for the NL batting title until the final game of the season. [205] A shoulder injury to Rusty Staub prompted the Mets to shift Don Hahn to right field and start Mays in center at the start of the Series. [115][116] For the second time in three years, he only hit 29 home runs, but he led the NL with 190 hits and drove in 103 runs, batting .319 and stealing 25 bases. What is the net worth of Willie Mays? [267], Unlike other black athletes such as Jackie Robinson, Mays tended to remain silent on race issues, refraining from public complaints about discriminatory practices that affected him. [195] Mays appeared in 88 games for the Mets in 1972, batting .250 in 244 at bats with eight home runs. [56] Before he left to join the Army, Mays played the first few weeks of the 1952 season with the Giants. "My problem was if I could stay on the field. "[49] However, the Giants went 4018 in the season's final 58 games, winning their last seven of the year to finish the regular season tied with the Dodgers. So Willie Mays is an athlete that pretty much all of us have heard of, unless you're like that Geico person you've been living under a rock for a while, but Willie Mays is one of the greatest baseball players of all time. But I'm here today because baseball is my number one love. <p>1970 Topps Carlos May Chicago White Sox #18 C26 Lee May Brothers Autograph. [137] He considered the home run one of his most important, along with his first and the four-home-run game. [281], At a special ceremony during the Mets 60th anniversary Old-Timers Game on August 27, 2022, the team announced that, pursuant to a promise Mets owner Joan Payson had made to Mays when she traded for him in 1972, they were following the Giants in retiring Mays number 24. Posted on . [95] In the final Giants' home game at the Polo Grounds on September29, 1957, fans gave Mays a standing ovation in the middle of his final at bat, after Pirates' pitcher Bob Friend had already thrown a pitch to him. [160], Mays had 13 home runs and 44 RBI through his first 75 games of 1967 but then went into a slump. The Hall of Fame professional baseball legend lives here. "[58], Throughout his career, Mays maintained he did not specifically try to set records, but he ranks among baseball's leaders in many categories. 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