Willie Mays, the iconic Hall of Fame center fielder who is known as the greatest all-around baseball player of all time, 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 between, he spent 21 years with the New York Giants, who would later move to San Francisco
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’ career
Mays was a true five-tool player, excelling at speed, throwing, fielding, hitting for average and hitting 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 the grand scheme of his career, it didn’t take long for Mays to become the amazing all-around player we remember today, but it did take some time. He debuted 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 nickname, “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 because 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 legend Quincy Jones conducting the orchestra.
Mays didn’t get the chance to follow up on his promising MLB debut until 1954, after he served two years in the Army during the Korean War. He spent most of that time (the majority of 1952 and all of 1953) playing on military baseball teams with other MLB players and traveling around to entertain the troops.
