A year-by-year look at Mays’s legendary career, as told by his Topps baseball card for each season.
The numbers Willie Mays consistently posted throughout his career tell a remarkable story even for those who never got a chance to see him play. Not only did Mays put up milestone numbers in key counting categories, but his statistics also hold up by more modern measures as well.
He played in 3,005 games across 23 seasons, the majority spent with the Giants, first in New York and later San Francisco. He had a career batting average of .301, and his 3,293 hits included 660 home runs. He still holds the sixth-highest home run total in history, along with the fourth-most total bases. His 2,068 runs are the seventh most.He was twice voted National League MVP, won 12 Gold Glove awards and appeared in a record 24 All-Star Games.
He led the NL in WAR 10 times , and his career WAR of 156.2 is third highest of all time among position players behind only Barry Bonds and Babe Ruth.Those stats include one season of three played with the Birmingham Black Barons, where Mays started his professional career in 1948 and appeared in the final Negro World Series at 17. He batted .311 in 75 games for the Black Barons in 1949 and started the 1950 season batting .330 and slugging .
Here’s a year-by-year look at his key major league stats and accomplishments , with his Topps baseball card for that season.After hitting .393 and slugging .604 in 116 minor league games, Mays made his Giants debut May 25, having just turned 20. In his fourth game, he got his first major league hit, a home run off future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn. On Aug. 11, the Giants were 13 games behind the Dodgers, but they won 37 of their last 44 to tie for first place.
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