Willie Mays, Baseball Legend and Hall of Famer, Dead at 93

Willie Mays — the baseball legend who made history as the first black major league team captain — has died. He was 93 years old.

The San Francisco Giants announced that the former center fielder, who also played for the New York Mets, died on Tuesday, June 18. Major League Baseball also announced his death.

“It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away this afternoon at the age of 93,” the team said in a statement.

“My father passed away peacefully and surrounded by loved ones,” said Mays’ son, Michael Mays San Francisco Chronicle. “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 were his life blood.”

“His incredible accomplishments and statistics cannot describe the awe that came from watching Willie Mays dominate the game in every way imaginable,” MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement. “We will never forget this true Giant on and off the field.”

Courtesy of HBO

Mays died the day after he said Chronicle will not be able to attend the Negro Leagues game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala. on Thursday, June 20.

Born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, Mays was raised by his father, William Howard “Cat” Mays Sr. – who also played baseball – and his two aunts, Sarah and Ernestine. His mother, Annie Satterwhite, was also an athlete who competed in high school basketball and track and field.

The “Say Hey Kid” got his start playing for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League — an operation created after Jim Crow laws separated black and white baseball players in 1900, according to the official website — in 1948. The Giants bought his contract in 1950. , and after a slow start, Mays won the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year award with 20 home runs.

Mays played 21 seasons before being traded to the New York Mets in 1972. Although he only competed for the Mets for two seasons, he paced the team with 14 home runs.

undefined Check out Barry Bonds’ selfie with Willie Mays sleeping

In 1973, the baseball icon retired with 24 All-Star awards, 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, two National League MVP awards and 12 consecutive Gold Gloves to his name, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 ( He became the oldest living Hall of Famer when Los Angeles Dodgers pitcher Tommy Lasorda died in 2021.)

Because of his undeniable impact, the Giants retired his No. 24 jersey on May 12, 1972, and the Mets repeated the same action 50 years later on August 27, 2022.

“I can never forget how it felt to come back to New York to play for all the faithful Mets fans,” Mays said in a statement read by Howie Rose during the Mets’ Veterans Day 2022 celebration, according to ESPN. “I am extremely proud to finish my career in Queens with the Mets during the ’73 World Series. It is an honor to have my number retired in two of my favorite cities – New York and San Francisco. New York was a magical place to play baseball.”

Bowman Willie Mays Card from 1951. Courtesy of Phoenix Art Museum and Arizona Diamondbacks

Filmmaker George Nelson chronicled Mays’ life and legacy in a 2022 HBO documentary Say Hey Willie Mays! The film also explored the racism and controversies the icon faced, including criticism from Jackie Robinson — the first African-American player in Major League Baseball — about Mays’ silence during the civil rights movement.

Mays responded to Robinson in the documentary, saying, “Everybody has to do their job their own way. And in my heart, my way is just as important as Jackie Robinson’s way.”

“The No. 1 word for Willie Mays was loyalty. If you’re with Willie, you agree,” Nelson told PEOPLE ahead of the film’s Nov. 8 premiere. “Willie had a feeling that, ‘My presence in the world is to bring people together.’ ”

The sports star was loved by many, such as former US President Barack Obama — who awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015. For May’s 91st birthday in 2022, Obama shared video on Twitter chatting with the former baseball player on Air Force One during his first year on duty.

Pete Souza/White House via Getty Willie Mays turns 90: Barack Obama wishes the oldest living Hall of Famer a happy birthday

“Let me tell you, you helped us get there. If it wasn’t for people like you and Jackie [Robinson], I’m not sure I would have been elected to the White House,” Obama said to Mays in 2009 aboard Air Force One, according to The Obama White House. “The spirit you brought to the game, the way you carried yourself, it all really makes a difference. It changed people’s attitudes. So you played a part in that.”

In May 2024, MLB added the Negro League stat to its official records, increasing Mays’ career hit total to 3,293 thanks to the 10 hits he recorded as a member of the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons.

The celebrated athlete married Margherita Wendell Chapman in 1956, and they adopted a son, Michael, before divorcing in 1963. He later married child welfare worker Mae Louise Allen in 1971, who died of Alzheimer’s disease on April 19, 2013. aged 74, reports MLB.

Mays is survived by his son Michael and godson Barry Bonds, a retired baseball player and the child of his former Giants teammate and close friend, Bobby Bonds.

“I am 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,” Bonds wrote on Instagram. “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.”

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Source: HIS Education