Willie Mays, baseball’s exuberant and electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93. The Giants and Mays' family jointly announced his death. The Giants center fielder, with his signature basket catch, was one of the game’s greatest and most beloved players.
FILE - New York Giants’ Willie Mays poses for a photo during baseball spring training in 1972. Mays, the electrifying “Say Hey Kid” whose singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players, has died. He was 93. Mays’ family and the San Francisco Giants jointly announced Tuesday night, June 18, 2024, he had “passed away peacefully” Tuesday afternoon surrounded by loved ones.
“When I played ball, I tried to make sure everybody enjoyed what I was doing,” Mays told NPR in 2010. “I made the clubhouse guy fit me a cap that when I ran, the wind gets up in the bottom and it flies right off. People love that kind of stuff.” In Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, the then-New York Giants hosted the Cleveland Indians, who had won 111 games in the regular season and were strong favorites in the postseason. The score was 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning. Cleveland’s Vic Wertz faced reliever Don Liddle with none out, Larry Doby on second and Al Rosen on first.
“Soon as it got hit, I knew I’d catch the ball,” Mays told biographer James S. Hirsch, whose book came out in 2010. But “The Catch” and his achievements during the regular season were greatness enough. Yankees and Dodgers fans may have fiercely challenged Mays’ eminence, but Mantle and Snider did not.
Sports writer Barney Kremenko has often been credited with nicknaming him “The Say Hey Kid,” referring to Mays’ spirited way of greeting his teammates. Moments on and off the field sealed the public’s affection. In 1965, Mays defused a horrifying brawl after teammate Juan Marichal clubbed Los Angeles Dodgers catcher John Roseboro with a bat. Mays led a bloodied Roseboro away and sat with him on the clubhouse bench of the Dodgers, the Giants’ hated rivals.
By high school he was playing for the Birmingham Black Barons, and late in life would receive an additional 10 hits to his career total, 3,293, when Negro League statistics were recognized in 2024 by Major League Baseball. With Robinson breaking the major league’s color barrier in 1947, Mays’ ascension became inevitable. The Giants signed him after he graduated from high school and sent him to its minor league affiliate in Trenton, New Jersey.
“I remember all the guys running by me, running to home plate, and I’m saying, ‘What’s going on here?’ I was thinking, ‘I got to hit!‘”
General News MLB NYC State Wire Obituaries CA State Wire NY State Wire Sports Los Angeles Dodgers S N U.S. News A MLB Baseball Atlantic City New York Mets U.S. News
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Willie Mays, Giants’ electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ dies at 93Willie Mays, whose singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest players, has died. He was 93.
Read more »
Willie Mays, Giants’ electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93Willie Mays, baseball’s exuberant and electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93.
Read more »
Willie Mays, Giants’ electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93Over 22 seasons, virtually all with the New York/San Francisco Giants, Mays batted .302, hit 660 home runs, totaled 3,283 hits, scored more than 2,000 runs...
Read more »
Willie Mays, Giants’ electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93Willie Mays, baseball’s exuberant and electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93.
Read more »
Willie Mays, Giants’ electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93Willie Mays, baseball’s exuberant and electrifying ‘Say Hey Kid,’ has died at 93.
Read more »
Legendary outfielder Willie Mays, 'Say Hey Kid,' dies at 93Willie Mays, known as the 'Say Hey Kid,' made 24 All-Star teams, won two NL MVP awards and had 12 Gold Gloves over the course of his legendary 22-year career.
Read more »