Baseball Icon, Willie Mays, Passes Away at 93
(Photo by Win McNamee/Getty Images)
The dynamic baseball Hall of Fame baseball icon, Willie Mays, who was known to be one of the best all-around players, has passed away at the age of 93, the San Francisco Giants announced. Mays’ electrifying combination of talent, drive and exuberance for the game of baseball made him one of the greatest and most beloved players.
Mays passed away “peacefully and among loved ones,” his son, Michael Mays, said in a release from the Giants on Tuesday, June 18, 2024, the Major League Baseball franchise with which Mays was most associated.
“I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood,” Michael Mays said.
The center fielder, who began his professional career in the Negro Leagues in 1948, had been baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer. He was voted into the Hall in 1979, his first year of eligibility, and in 1999 followed only Babe Ruth on The Sporting News’ list of the game’s top stars. The Giants retired his uniform number, 24, and set their AT&T Park in San Francisco on Willie Mays Plaza.
Baseball legend Ted Williams himself once said, “They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.”
Mays appeared in 24 of them.
Writer Joe Posnanski once came up with an idea called “The Willie Mays Hall of Fame,” because fans would complain that the standards for selection to Cooperstown were too low. It was a joke, of course. As Joe wrote, if Mays were the standard for the Hall of Fame, it would have only one member.
Willie Mays’ Famous Catch
Many remember Mays making the dramatic catch in the 1954 World Series. Maybe it wasn’t the greatest catch of all time and even Mays himself said he made better plays. But it’s the catch everyone still talks about as the greatest ever — 70 years later it remains unsurpassed, a mythological play with video proof that he was worthy of each of his 12 Gold Gloves.
On its own, the catch is incredible. Mays was running full speed and reached out to catch the ball with his back turned to home plate. Anyone who makes a similar catch these days would be shown on highlight videos the rest of the season, and likely beyond.
Context is needed to appreciate the true greatness of The Catch. First and foremost, the game was played at the Polo Grounds in New York, and it was approximately 450 feet to that part of center field. It was 483 feet to the deepest part of center, the cutout to the left of where Mays made the catch. Yes, 483 feet. It was “only” 450 feet or so where Mays made the catch.
For reference, the deepest center field in the game today is 415 feet at Coors Field. Mays made the catch at a point approximately 35 feet beyond that. He made the catch running at full speed and only a few steps in front of the center field wall. The center field wall that was, again, 450 feet or so away from home plate. Mays went a long, long way to make that catch.
“[Mays] scooped the ball up at the base of the 406-foot sign, whirled and fired. It came in on one bounce, directly in front of the plate, and into the glove of catcher Tom Haller, who put it on the astonished Willie Stargell. It was described by old-timers as the greatest throw ever made in ancient Forbes Field,” Bob Stevens wrote of a 1965 game.
Mays and the Giants won Game 1 and went on to sweep Cleveland in the four-game series. It was the seventh World Series title in franchise history and the last one the Giants won in New York before moving to San Francisco in 1958.
The ‘Say Hey Kid’ retired with a .301/.384/.557 batting line and is sixth all-time in home runs (660) and 13th all-time in hits (3,292).
Mays wasn’t a big man, standing at 5-foot-10 and 170 pounds, but he had muscles throughout his body with huge hands that gripped the bat like a toothpick. He finished with 660 home runs — and, if not for missing nearly two full seasons while serving in the Army, might have broken Babe Ruth’s home run record before Hank Aaron did. He led his league four times in home runs.
Two years ago, ESPN ranked Mays the second-greatest player of all time behind Babe Ruth.
American baseball player Willie Mays of the San Francisco Giants, circa 1965. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
What Players Really Thought of Willie Mays
Reactions from former players and fans began to pour in on social media.
“I am beyond devastated and overcome with emotion. I have no words to describe what you mean to me — you helped shape me to be who I am today. Thank you for being my Godfather and always being there. Give my dad a big hug for me. Rest in peace Willie. I love you forever. #SayHey” — Former Giants slugger and Mays’ godson, Barry Bonds.
“He’s the godfather of center fielders. When you think about playing center field and you’re a person of color, that’s who they compare you to. For him to pull me aside and spend all the time he did with me meant a lot.” — Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr.
“Willie Mays wasn’t just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power. He was also a wonderfully warm and generous person – and an inspiration to an entire generation. I’m lucky to have spent time with him over the years, and Michelle and I send our deepest condolences to his family.” — Former President Barack Obama.
Circa 1958, American baseball player Willie Mays #24 of the San Francisco Giants poses in uniform in a stadium. (Photo by Archive Photos/Getty Images)
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