Willie Mays

Quotes About Mays
"I've played with him and against him, and as far as I'm concerned there never could have been any better center fielder." — Red Schoendienst on Willie Mays

"Willie Mays was the finest player I ever saw, make no mistake about it. He could carry a team for a month at a time by himself. But, because he was so skilled, he was able to get away with a lot of things he did wrong on the field, and it was hard for him to show the younger players how to get the job done." — Willie McCovey

Quotes From Mays
"I don't know why they call me that. I don't ever get excited. I just play my game and let others get excited." — Willie Mays in 1957, when told he was considered the most exciting player in the game.

Played For
New York Giants (1951-1957)
San Francisco Giants (1958-1972)
New York Mets (1972-1973)

All-Time Rankings
Willie Mays ranks #1 among the Top 50 all-time at CF. Rankings ⇒

Best Season: 1954
It all depends on which Mays you want - the young speedster who stole bases or - the older slugger who still ran well and fielded like a champ. I chose 1954 primarily because he was still swiping some bases (24 in 28 tries) and his team won the World Series largely because of him. He led the NL in batting, slugging, triples, runs created, OPS, and TA. He belted 41 homers and had a .415 OBP. In the World Series his catch of Vic Wertz's deep drive won the opener. He was a young lion in 1954 with many more great years ahead.

Wait, Wait, Swing!
According to experimenst done on his swing, Mays was .05 seconds faster than other hitters, giving Willie nearly 20 percent longer to wait on a pitch. Therefore, he was able to delay his swing until the ball was six feet closer to the plate than most other hitters.

Description
Mays still garners consideration by many as the greatest player of all-time. He was the original "five-tool player," possessing the ability to hit, hit for power, run, throw, and field. He retired with 660 home runs, but he was far more than a slugger. He swiped more than 300 bases and was the best defensive center fielder of his era. Mays deserves his ranking as one of the game's elite superstars. As a young player, Mays was fun-loving and gregarious, earning the nickname "Say Hey" for his catch-phrase at the ballpark. He was known to frequent the streets of New York, playing stickball with children and handing out his autograph. As he grew older, and after the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays cooled to the media and became more aloof. As he began to pile up home runs, it was Mays, not Aaron, who was seen as the threat to Babe Ruth's record. Eventually, it was Mays' bad legs that kept him from breaking the mark. Mays was lalmost universally loved by his teammates, and he often helped younger players become acclimated to the big leagues. Mays tutored Bobby Bonds, who later made Mays his son's godfather. That son became Barry Bonds. Mays was a tremendous athlete, and perhaps his baseball skills can best be summed up in the fact that from 1957-1966, he finished no lower than sixth in NL MVP voting every year. He won the Award twice and became the first player to reach 3,000 hits and 500 homers.

Born
Willie Howard (Jr.) Mays was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, AL.

Batted:  Right
Threw:  Right

Primary Position:  OF

Primary Team:  SFN

Major League Debut
May 25, 1951

Nine Other Players Who Debuted in 1951
Willie Mays
Mickey Mantle
Roy McMillan
Pete Runnels
Frank Thomas
Johnny Logan
Bob Friend
Rocky Bridges
Gil McDougald

Nicknames
The Say Hey Kid

Uniform Numbers
#24 (1951-1952, 1954-1973)

Similar Players
Ken Griffey Jr. has some similarities and so does Andruw Jones, but there's no one truly comparable to Willie Mays... A few of the players who were compared to Mays: Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Frank Robinson, Vada Pinson, Bobby Bonds, Cesar Cedeno, Barry Bonds, Ken Griffey Jr., Andrew Jones

Related Players
Mickey Mantle, Duke Snider, Bobby Bonds, Barry Bonds

Hall of Fame Voting Year Election Votes Pct 1979 BBWAA 409 94.7%

Post-Season Appearances
1951 World Series
1954 World Series
1962 World Series
1971 National League Championship Series
1973 National League Championship Series
1973 World Series

Awards and Honors
1951 NL Rookie of the Year
1954 NL MVP
1957 ML Gold Glove
1958 NL Gold Glove
1959 NL Gold Glove
1960 NL Gold Glove
1961 NL Gold Glove
1962 NL Gold Glove
1963 ML AS MVP
1963 NL Gold Glove
1964 NL Gold Glove
1965 NL Gold Glove
1965 NL MVP
1966 NL Gold Glove
1967 NL Gold Glove
1968 ML AS MVP
1968 NL Gold Glove

Feats
Willie Mays, Hank Aaron, Eddie Murray and Rafael Palmeiro are the only players to collect both 500 homers and 3,000 hits.

Milestones

• August 7, 1955: 100th HR...


• May 23, 1958: 200th HR...


• July 4, 1961: 300th HR...


• August 27, 1963: 400th HR... Off Curt Simmons


• September 13, 1965: 500th HR... Came against Don Nottebart.


• September 22, 1969: 600th HR...


• July 18, 1970: 3000th Hit... Mike Wegener surrendered Mays' 3,000th hit, which was a single.

Batting Feats

• May 13, 1958: 15 Total Bases...


• April 30, 1961: 4 HR... Mays used teammate Joey Amalfitano's bat during the game... His sixth inning homer cleared the left field bleachers and left County Stadium... Mays was on deck in the top of 9th when the third out was made, ruining his chance at five homers... Giants won the game, 14-4... Eight homers were hit by the Giants in the game, including two by Orlando Cepeda... Hank Aaron hit two homers and drove in all of the Braves' runs... Billy Loes earned the victory, and it was the fourth time he had been in uniform for a four-homer game. He was with the Dodgers in 1950 and 1954 for Hodges' and Adcock's four-homer games and had been with the Orioles in 1959 when Colavito went deep four times.

Notes
Mays is one of the few players to hit four homers in a game... He accumulated twenty steals and homers in the same season six straight years.

Hitting Streaks
21 games (1954)
21 games (1957)
20 games (1964)
18 games (1965)

Transactions
Signed as an amateur free agent by New York Giants (1950); traded by San Francisco Giants to New York Mets in exchange for Charlie Williams and $50,000 (May 11, 1972).

All-Star Selections
1954 NL
1955 NL
1956 NL
1957 NL
1958 NL
1959 NL
1960 NL
1961 NL
1962 NL
1963 NL
1964 NL
1965 NL
1966 NL
1967 NL
1968 NL
1969 NL
1970 NL
1971 NL
1972 NL
1973 NL

Replaced
The 1951 Giants had a huge hole at first base. So they moved left fielder Whitey Lockman to first, which opened one spot the outfield. A second spot was opened when the 1950 center fielder, Bobby Thomson, moved to third base and was supplanted by Mays. Monte Irvin, Lockman and Thomson shared left field.

Replaced By
Mays was traded to the Mets in 1972, opening the way for Garry Maddox in center field. With the Mets, Mays was never a full-time player.

Best Strength as a Player
Combination of speed and power.

Largest Weakness as a Player
He had no weakness as a ballplayer.

Learn More about Willie Mays
Search Amazon.com for Books about Willie Mays ⇒
Search for Willie Mays at Google ⇒
View a map of his hometown at Mapquest ⇒