Willie Mays...The Say-Hey Kid
Great New York Giants Outfielder
What can be said about Willie Mays that has not been said before. He has been showered with every adjective from 'dazzling' to 'unbelievable' and this hardly describes the fleet-footed amazing outfielder who played 2992 games for the New York Giants and the New York Mets.
Baseball Farm Clubs
Mays was a super star football, basketball and baseball player at the Fairfax Industrial high School in Birmingham, Alabama, and at the age of seventeen he joined the Birmingham Barons of the Negro National League. He was scouted by the New York Giants in 1950 and played for the farm teams Trenton, of the Interstate League, and the Minneapolis Millers of the Triple-A American Association. 1951 the Giants called him up after he had batted .477 in thirty-five games for Minneapolis.
New York Giants
The Say-Hey kid joined the Giants in 1951 and had an unremarkable 0- for -12 start. Manager Leo Durocher assured him that he would be the starting centerfielder for the rest of the season. His first home run was against Warren Spahn and his career was off and running. He went into the army in 1952 and served for two years, returning to the team in 1954. That year he led the league with 41 home runs,110 runs batted in and a batting average of .345.
World Series of 1954
The World Series of 1954 had the Cleveland Indians facing the New York Giants.That year the Indians posted the most wins in a season in Major League history, coming up with 111. Everyone believed that the Giants didn't have a chance against the winningest team in baseball, but Mays made a play in the first game that amazed everyone when he ran at the crack of Vic Wertz's bat and caught the ball over his shoulder 430 feet from the plate.The game was tied at the time. This demoralized the Indians and they were defeated in four straight games.
Stolen Bases
Willie Mays won four consecutive stolen-base titles starting in 1956, and had a total of 338 stolen bases in his career. In 1957 he had a season with 20 or more homers, doubles, triples and stolen bases to show that he was an all-star defensive threat.
San Francisco Giants
Mays was loved by the New York fans, but he was not completely accepted by the game attenders in San Francisco, when the Giants moved there in 1957. But he nevertheless continued to star in the outfield and at bat, and in 1962 slammed 49 homers. The Giants were tied with the Dodgers at season's end, but they won the pennant in a three-game playoff series. They went on to lose the World Series to the New York Yankees in seven games, the last one a tight 1-0 thriller.
New York Mets
In 1972 Mays was traded to the New York Mets and he played in the World Series in 1973. He then went on to honor the contract he had signed to be a goodwill ambassador and part-time coach for the team.
Willie Mays held the record for most putouts in a career of 7,095. A remarkable player, he was elected to the baseball Hall of Fame in 1979
Source
The Ballplayers edited by Mike Shatzkin Arbor House William Morrow New York 1980
For further reading about baseball see Gil Hodges Satchel Paige Philadelphia Phillies
Young Willie Mays
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