WILLIE MAYS

To many, Willie Mays is the greatest all-around baseball player in history, excelling in
hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, throwing and base running. During twenty-
two seasons of major league play, the “Say Hey Kid” hit 660 home runs, putting him in
fourth place for the all-time home run record. 
 
Mays was born May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama. His mother had been a high school
track and basketball star; his father played semi-pro baseball. Almost from the time he
could walk, his family encouraged his athletic abilities. In high school, he excelled at
football and basketball as well as baseball.
At age sixteen he joined the Negro League’s Birmingham Black Barons and went on to
play as centerfielder. That same year, the color barrier in baseball was broken by Jackie
Robinson in the National League and then Laurence Eugene “Larry” Doby in the
American League.  Thereafter, many Major League teams began scouting the Negro
Leagues.  In 1950 a scout for the New York Giants spotted Mays and signed him up. An
amazing centerfielder, hitter and runner, he was named the National League’s Rookie of
the Year in 1951. 
 
In 1954 he led the Giants to a World Championship, winning the Most Valuable Player
Award, and making a spectacular play in the first game of the series that has ever since
been known to baseball fans simply as “The Catch.” He accumulated twelve Gold
Gloves, played in a record-tying twenty-four All-Star games and participated in four
World Series. 
 
The Giants moved from New York to San Francisco in 1958. In 1962, Mays led the team to
another pennant victory and, in 1964, became team captain. He was voted Most
Valuable Player in the National League in both 1954 and 1965. He retired from baseball
after the 1973 season, and was inducted into National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum
in 1979. In 1986, Mays returned to the San Francisco Giants organization, where he serves
as special assistant to the president of the club.