Willie Mays

Also known as Willie Howard Mays Jr., Willie Howard Mays, The Say Hey Kid

American baseball player (1931–2024)

Person · Open Library

Born: 1931
Died: 2024
Works: 18

Top works

Born to play ball,
24
Danger in center field, (Argonaut all-star baseball series)
Willie Mays
Uppity

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Person
Gender: Male
Origin: United States

Discogs

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 286
Total plays: 1,453

via Last.fm · Willie Mays

Recent publications · Crossref

5 total works indexed

The Sequence of the Human Genome
· 2001 · cited 10,201x
Composite Medium with Simultaneously Negative Permeability and Permittivity
· 2000 · cited 7,564x
The Genome Sequence of <i>Drosophila melanogaster</i>
· 2000 · cited 4,817x
The repertoire of mutational signatures in human cancer
· 2020 · cited 3,326x
Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes
· 2020 · cited 2,823x

via Crossref · CC0

Quotes

“Mays said he thought maybe the Skinner catch was a bit better than yesterday's, as well as a catch he made on a ball hit this season by Gus Bell of the Cincinnati Reds. "But I don't want to compare 'em," said Willie. "I'm just a ballplayer, not a sports writer. I don't compare 'em; I just catch 'em."”
“Gee, I've been asked hundreds of questions about that catch in the first game of the World Series. The one that Vic Wertz hit for Cleveland. Was it my best catch? How did I play it? Honestly, I don't rate 'em—I just try to catch 'em. When he hit the ball, I just started toward the place it was heading. And I got there.”
“Any time I'm not playing, I watch the game at home on television. That way I can relax and if I decide to make a catch off my playroom wall, nobody is the wiser.”
“Aw-Kay Vaughan?! Aw-kay Vaughan?! Oh my God, Ralph, please ... I've hit 600 and some home runs. Don't be givin' me no Aw-kay Vaughan, please!”
“You're not from New York, are you? You can't be from New York. Well, when I broke in, I didn't know many people by name so I would just say, "Say, hey," and the writers picked that up. The writers here in New York can make anything happen, so they made that happen.”
“I think I was the best ballplayer I’ve ever seen. I feel nobody in the world could do what I could do on a baseball field. I hope I’m not saying anything wrong, but you have to think you’re the best. The next one would be Roberto Clemente.”

via Wikiquote · CC BY-SA

Key facts

Batting average: .301
Hits: 3,293
Runs batted in: 1,909
Vote: 94.7% (first ballot)

via Wikipedia infobox

Sports profile

Sport: Baseball
Team: _Deceased Baseball
Position: Fielder
Nationality: United States

via TheSportsDB

~40 min read

Encyclopedic overview

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid", was an American professional baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB). Widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all time, Mays was a five-tool player who began his career in the Negro leagues, playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, and spent the rest of his career in the National League (NL), playing for the New York / San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

Born in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was an all-around athlete. He joined the Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948, playing with them until the Giants signed him upon his graduation from high school in 1950. He debuted in MLB with the Giants and won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951 after hitting 20 home runs to help the Giants win their first pennant in 14 years. In 1954, he won the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award, leading the Giants to their last World Series title before their move to the West Coast. His over-the-shoulder catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on to win another MVP Award in 1965 and also led the Giants to the 1962 World Series, this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended his career with a return to New York after an early season trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring after the team's trip to the 1973 World Series. He served as a coach for the Mets for the rest of the decade before rejoining the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager.

Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Willie Mays” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.