he told CNN<\/a> that \u201cit must be some kind of record for a 93-year-old.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\nThe hits came in 1948, when he was teenager with the Negro American League\u2019s Birmingham Black Barons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI was still in high school,\u201d Mays recalled. \u201cOur school did not have a baseball team. I played football and basketball, but I loved baseball. So my dad let me to play \u2026 but ONLY if I stayed in school. He wanted me to graduate. I played with the team on weekends until school was out for the summer.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI thought that was IT; that was the top of the world. Man, I was so proud to play with those guys,\u201d he said. Mays called his statistical accomplishment at age 93 \u201camazing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mays had just said he couldn\u2019t attend special game set for Thursday<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mays\u2019 death came just one day after he\u00a0told the San Francisco Chronicle\u00a0that he wouldn\u2019t be able to attend a major event planned for later this week: Major League Baseball is scheduled to commemorate Juneteenth and celebrate the Negro Leagues with a game Thursday at Rickwood Field, in Birmingham, Alabama, where the Black Barons played.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
MLB had long planned to honor Mays at the game, though he\u00a0told the Chronicle\u00a0on Monday that he couldn\u2019t make it to Birmingham and instead would watch his San Francisco Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals on TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cMy heart will be with all of you who are honoring the Negro League ballplayers, who should always be remembered, including all my teammates on the Black Barons,\u201d Mays told the newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In the wake of Mays\u2019 death, Thursday\u2019s game will also serve as a national remembrance \u201cof an American who will forever remain on the short list of the most impactful individuals our great game has ever known,\u201d Manfred said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Willie Mays, seen here of the New York Giants in 1955, had 660 career home runs and won 12 Golden Gloves in 23 major league seasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018The Catch\u2019<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mays was known in part for one of baseball\u2019s most memorable catches \u2013 in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series between the New York Giants and the Cleveland Indians at Polo Grounds in New York.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
With runners on first and second in the eighth inning of a 2-2 game, Indians batter Vic Wertz hit a 425-foot drive to deep center field.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mays turned and sprinted back towards the wall, somehow catching the ball over his shoulder with his back to the plate. He then fired it back to the infield, preventing the runners from scoring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In those days, players regularly scored from second base after tagging up at that ballpark. The catch became the defining play of Mays\u2019 career and one of the most famous plays in baseball history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
New York won the game 5-2 in 10 innings and would go on to sweep the Indians to capture the World Series.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That capped an impressive season for Mays as he won his first of two National League Most Valuable Player awards. The other came in 1965.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1954, Mays led the league with a .345 batting average and 12 triples and smashed 41 homers while driving in 110 runs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But what\u2019s perhaps most extraordinary about that 1954 season was prior to it, he did not play baseball. Mays spent most of 1952 and all of 1953 in the Army.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A long, brilliant career<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
Mays made his Major League debut for the Giants in 1951 at the age of 20 after playing in the Negro Leagues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He wasted no time in capturing accolades.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He won the Rookie of the Year award and helped New York rally from a 13-game deficit to tie the Brooklyn Dodgers at the end of regular season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 1958, baseball\u2019s landscape changed dramatically as the Giants moved west to San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It was a new home but the same outstanding level of play from Mays, who notched a career-high .347 batting average in his first season out west.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Four years later, Mays\u2019 49 homers and 141 runs batted in (RBI) helped the Giants return to the World Series, where they lost a 7-game thriller to the New York Yankees.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mays would play in 24 All-Star games before retiring in 1973 after two seasons with the New York Mets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
His number 24 is retired by the San Francisco Giants.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cTo a native San Franciscan, some things just go without question: it\u2019s foggy in the summer, cable cars go halfway to the stars, and Willie Mays is the best there ever was,\u201d San Francisco Mayor London Breed said Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHe was from a generation who faced segregation and racism, a generation that paved the way so that many of us could have the freedom to thrive,\u201d Breed continued.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018One of baseball\u2019s most exciting stars,\u2019 says Mays\u2019 Hall of Fame plaque<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
In 1979, Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame. \u201cOne of baseball\u2019s most colorful and exciting stars excelled in all phases of the game,\u201d his plaque reads.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
That same year, he took a job as a greeter with a casino hotel. Baseball, which feared any connection with gambling, put him on permanent suspension. But Mays was welcomed back into the game in 1985 by commissioner Peter Ueberroth who said Mays \u201cbelongs in baseball.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On Mays\u2019\u00a0National Baseball Hall of Fame page, the late former baseball player and manager Leo Durocher is quoted as saying: \u201cIf somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases and performed a miracle in the field every day, I\u2019d still look you in the eye and say Willie was better.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2015, President Barack Obama bestowed Mays with the nation\u2019s highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe have never seen an all-around, five-tool player quite like Willie before,\u201d Obama said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWillie also served our country, and his quiet example while excelling on one of America\u2019s biggest stages helped carry forward the banner of civil rights,\u201d the statement continued. \u201cIt\u2019s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could even think about running for President.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In 2017, Major League Baseball renamed the\u00a0World Series Most Valuable Player Award\u00a0after Mays.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barry Bonds, who was Mays\u2019 godson and holds the MLB career record for home runs at\u00a0762\u00a0after playing in the majors from 1986 to 2007 \u2013 including for the Giants \u2013 said Tuesday he was \u201cbeyond devastated and overcome with emotion.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI 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 hug for me. Rest in peace Willie, I love you forever.\u00a0#SayHey,\u201d Bonds posted to\u00a0Instagram.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Mays was \u201cmore than just a baseball icon,\u201d California Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a release Tuesday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cHis impact extends far beyond baseball,\u201d Newsom said. \u201cHe became an integral part of San Francisco\u2019s cultural fabric and a cherished member of our community. His legacy will forever be intertwined with the legacy of the city he loved.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Willie Mays, the dynamic baseball Hall of Famer who shined in all facets of the game and made a dramatic catch in the 1954 World Series, died Tuesday at the age of 93, the San Francisco Giants\u00a0announced. Mays passed away \u201cpeacefully and among loved ones,\u201d his son, Michael Mays, said in a release from the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":7049,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[43,47],"tags":[9,20],"class_list":{"0":"post-7048","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"category-sport","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-sport"},"yoast_head":"\n
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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n