Legendary outfielder Willie Mays dies at age 93

Willie Mays, whose unmatched series of abilities made him the ideal heart fielder who ever lived, died Tuesday afternoon in the Bay Region. He modified into 93.

“My father has passed away peacefully and amongst family members,” Michael Mays stated in an announcement launched by the San Francisco Giants. “I must thank you all from the bottom of my broken coronary heart for the unwavering love that that you just would perchance maybe absorb shown him over time. You absorb been his existence’s blood.”

The “Explain Hello Kid” left an indelible mark on the sport, with his title a fixed all over baseball’s hallowed file guide and his defensive prowess — epitomized by “The Catch” in Recreation 1 of the 1954 World Series — 2d to none.

All urged, in a occupation that spanned 20-plus years (1951-73) — most of them with his liked Giants — he made 24 All-Giant title groups, received two Nationwide League MVP awards and had 12 Gold Gloves. He ranks sixth all time in dwelling runs (660), seventh in runs scored (2,068), 10th in RBIs (1,909) and 12th in hits (3,293).

“Nowadays we absorb lost a correct myth,” Giants chairman Greg Johnson stated in an announcement. “Within the pantheon of baseball greats, Willie Mays’ combination of expansive ability, alive to mind, showmanship, and boundless joy pickle him apart. A 24-time All-Giant title, the Explain Hello Kid is the final Perpetually Giant.

“He had a profound impact no longer ideal on the game of baseball, but on the fabric of The US. He modified into an inspiration and a hero who will be forever remembered and deeply passed over.”

Fellow Giants myth Barry Bonds, who is Mays’ godson and sits apt 5 spots above him on the all-time dwelling drag leaderboard, stated Mays “helped shape me to be who I’m at present” in a message shared on social media.

Mays’ loss of life comes two days sooner than the Giants are pickle to play the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, in a game honoring Mays and the Negro Leagues as a complete. It modified into announced Monday that Mays would no longer be in a field to abet.

Mays, who modified into born on Would possibly perchance well 6, 1931, and grew up in Alabama, started his educated occupation at age 17 in 1948 with the Birmingham Sunless Barons, helping the group to the Negro League World Series that season.

MLB has been working with the metropolis of Birmingham and Friends of Rickwood nonprofit community to renovate the ten,800-seat ballpark, which at 114 years oldschool is the oldest educated ballpark in the USA.

“Thursday’s game at ancient Rickwood Field modified into designed to be a birthday celebration of Willie Mays and his peers,” MLB commissioner Rob Manfred stated in an announcement. “With unhappiness in our hearts, this might maybe now also serve as a nationwide remembrance of an American who will forever live on the immediate checklist of potentially the most impactful folks our worthy game has ever acknowledged.”

The Giants were playing the Cubs in Chicago on Tuesday night; the Wrigley Field crowd of 36,292 stood in a salute to Mays all over a 2d of silence when his loss of life modified into announced on the left-field video board in the sixth inning.

“Or no longer it’s heavy hearts for no longer ideal the Bay Region and Novel York the build he started, however the baseball world,” stated Giants manager Bob Melvin, who realized of Mays’ loss of life apt sooner than the beginning up of the game. “Right here is basically one of the important correct icons of the game.”

The 62-year-oldschool Melvin, from Palo Alto, California, stated he grew up watching Mays play at Candlestick Park.

“I liked baseball thanks to Willie Mays,” Melvin stated. “It intended that great.”

Mays excelled in baseball, soccer and basketball as a excessive schooler. However his love of baseball trumped all sports. Since he modified into nonetheless in school while playing for the Sunless Barons, he performed with the club ideal on the weekends; he traveled with Birmingham when school modified into out.

The Novel York Giants caught wind of Mays and purchased his contract from Birmingham in 1950. Mays had no anguish acclimating, batting .353 in 81 games with Trenton that season. In 1951, Mays broke out with the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers; he batted .477 in 35 games sooner than the Giants recalled him in Would possibly perchance well.

There might maybe presumably now not ever be one other rather love Willie Mays 🧡 pic.twitter.com/I95JW1buJF

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024

At age 20, Mays modified into the 10th Sunless participant in major league history. After going hitless in his first three games, Mays’ first occupation hit with the Giants modified into a dwelling drag off Hall of Famer Warren Spahn in the principle inning of the Giants’ 4-1 loss to the Braves on Would possibly perchance well 28, 1951. Mays modified into also on deck when the Giants’ Bobby Thomson hit his NL-pennant-winning dwelling drag in opposition to the Dodgers on Oct. 3, 1951, famously acknowledged as “The Shot Heard ‘Spherical the World.”

The Korean Warfare interrupted Mays’ occupation in 1952. He performed in 34 games for the Giants (batting .236) sooner than he modified into drafted by the U.S. Navy. Mays modified into assigned to Citadel Eustis in Virginia, and he kept his abilities racy by playing games on a normal basis. Mays also passed over your complete 1953 season thanks to militia service; he did no longer return to the Giants till the spring of 1954.

However the layoff from educated baseball did no longer absorb an impact on him. Mays received the principle of his two occupation NL MVP awards that season, main the league in batting at .345 and hitting 41 dwelling runs to affiliate with 110 RBIs. Mays received his other NL MVP in 1965.

“I fell in love with baseball thanks to Willie, hideous and uncomplicated,” Giants president and chief executive officer Larry Baer stated. “My childhood modified into outlined by going to Candlestick with my dad, watching Willie patrol heart field with grace and the final athleticism. Over the past 30 years, working with Willie, and seeing firsthand his zest for existence and unbridled passion for giving to young gamers and childhood, has been unquestionably one of the important fun of my existence.”

All over Recreation 1 of the 1954 World Series in opposition to Cleveland on the Polo Grounds, Mays made unquestionably one of potentially the most notorious plays in baseball history. With the obtain tied at 2 and two runners on defective, Cleveland’s Vic Wertz hit a 2-1 pitch to deep heart in the high of the eighth inning. Mays sprinted toward the wall with his abet a ways flung from Wertz. He made a basket salvage while on the drag, pivoted and fired the ball into the infield. Mays’ salvage and like a flash relay throw avoided every runners from scoring; the Giants received the game 5-2 in 10 innings.

Nowadays, the play is completely acknowledged as “The Catch.”

“It wasn’t no fortunate salvage,” Mays notorious years later.

On Would possibly perchance well 11, 1972, Mays modified into traded from the Giants to the Novel York Mets for pitcher Charlie Williams and $50,000. After the 1973 season — when Mays helped the Mets get the NL pennant — Mays retired. In 1979, he modified into elected to the Baseball Hall of Reputation.

Melvin stated the Giants would’ve liked if he might maybe presumably’ve watched the matchup Thursday at Rickwood Field.

“If conceivable, it provides extra to going there,” he stated.

Giants starter Logan Webb stated he came upon about Mays’ loss of life all around the Cubs’ announcement, as he modified into taking the mound to pitch the sixth inning.

“It modified into exhausting before the entirety. I took my hat off and I modified into the scoreboard and apt thinking about him,” Webb stated. “I roughly looked on the umpire and I modified into love, ‘I mediate you ought to end the clock.’ I needed to steal a 2d to mediate it and be prideful for the jersey I modified into wearing, the hat I modified into wearing, vivid Willie did the same.”

Webb stated the group will play Thursday’s game in Mays’ honor. Right fielder Mike Yastrzemski also reflected on his interactions with Mays, recalling how the Hall of Famer insisted he desires to be playing heart field when he modified into first known as up.

“He stated he might maybe presumably now not peep great of the game but he might maybe presumably peep that,” Yastrzemski stated. “It modified into colorful cold.”

In an announcement from the MLB Gamers Association, executive director Tony Clark stated Mays “performed the game with an earnestness, a joy and a perpetual smile that resonated with fans in each field.”

“He’ll be remembered for his integrity, his commitment to excellence and a level of greatness that spanned generations,” Clark stated.

In his 22-year occupation, Mays led the NL in dwelling runs four times, and when he retired, his 660 dwelling runs ranked third in tall league history; he now ranks sixth in the abet of Bonds, Hank Aaron, Ruth, Alex Rodriguez and Albert Pujols. He also completed his occupation with 3,283 hits (12th all time) and 1,903 RBIs (10th all time).

“His improbable achievements and statistics originate no longer birth as a lot as utter the terror that came with watching Willie Mays dominate the game in every procedure conceivable,” Manfred stated in his assertion. “We might maybe presumably now not ever neglect this correct Giant on and off the sector. On behalf of Well-known League Baseball, I lengthen my deepest condolences to Willie’s household, his friends across our game, Giants fans in each field, and his endless admirers internationally.”

He modified into awarded the Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama in 2015.

“Willie Mays wasn’t apt a unique athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, ability and energy,” Obama stated Tuesday on X. “He modified into also a splendidly warmth and beneficiant particular person – and an inspiration to a complete generation.”

Other than 1951, when he wore No. 14, Mays wore No. 24 his complete occupation. Mays’ legacy nonetheless resonates in San Francisco. The Giants’ ballpark is positioned at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, full with a statue of Mays. The metropolis of San Francisco also celebrates every Would possibly perchance well 24 as Willie Mays Day.

ESPN’s Jesse Rogers and The Associated Press contributed to this file.