Willie Mays

Willie Howard Mays Jr. (May 6, 1931 – June 18, 2024) was an American professional baseball center fielder born in Westfield, Alabama, and raised in nearby Fairfield. He began his career with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League and went on to play 22 major league seasons, mostly with the New York and San Francisco Giants, finishing with 660 home runs, 3,283 hits and a .302 batting average.[1][2] He is widely regarded as one of the greatest all-around players in baseball history.

Early life in Alabama

Mays was born in Westfield, Jefferson County, and grew up in Fairfield, an industrial community near Birmingham. He played with the Fairfield Stars as a boy and attended Fairfield Industrial High School, where he excelled in several sports but concentrated on baseball.[2]

Birmingham Black Barons

Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948 while still in high school. Negro Leagues records describe him as a fast and smart baserunner and a center fielder, and he helped the team reach the 1948 Negro World Series, which Birmingham lost to the Homestead Grays.[3] Because his high school principal objected to his playing professionally, Mays reportedly agreed to play only the team’s home games.[3] Biographical accounts also list earlier stops with other clubs when he was a teenager. After completing school in 1950 he signed with the New York Giants organization.[2]

Minor leagues and major league debut

Mays hit .353 in 81 games for the Class B Trenton Giants in 1950 and .477 in 35 games for Minneapolis, the Giants’ Triple-A affiliate, in 1951, which prompted a call to the major leagues.[2] He debuted for the Giants on May 25, 1951, and began slowly, with just one hit in his first 26 at-bats, before settling in and winning the National League Rookie of the Year Award.[2][1] He then served in the U.S. Army in 1952 and 1953 during the Korean War, without seeing combat, and missed most of two seasons.[2]

Career highlights

In 1954 Mays returned to hit .345 with 41 home runs, winning the batting title and the National League Most Valuable Player Award. In Game 1 of that year’s World Series against the Cleveland Indians, he made an over-the-shoulder catch of a long drive by Vic Wertz that became known simply as “The Catch,” and the Giants swept the series.[2][1] He won a second MVP award in the 1960s; the Encyclopedia of Alabama gives the year both as 1964 and 1965, while most references cite 1965.

He became the first Black team captain in the major leagues in 1964, and in 1966 he became baseball’s highest-paid player. He moved with the Giants to San Francisco after 1957 and finished his career with the New York Mets in 1972 and 1973.[2] Over a 22-season career he won 12 Gold Glove Awards, appeared in 24 All-Star Games, drove in 1,903 runs, scored 2,062 runs and stole 338 bases. He was the first player to combine more than 3,000 hits with more than 500 home runs.[2][1]

Later life and honors

Mays was elected to the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 on his first ballot. In the 1980s he became a lifetime special assistant to the president of the San Francisco Giants. President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom on November 24, 2015.[2] The Giants retired his number 24 and placed a bronze statue of him outside their ballpark in San Francisco, and two New York City streets were renamed in his honor in 2013.[2] Mays died in San Francisco on June 18, 2024, at the age of 93.[1]

Alabama connections

Mays is one of several Alabama natives who changed baseball; he is often mentioned alongside fellow Hall of Famer Hank Aaron of Mobile. The Black Barons, the Birmingham ballparks where he played and the neighborhoods around Fairfield remain central to the story of baseball in the state.[2][3]

FAQs

Where was Willie Mays born? He was born in Westfield, Alabama, on May 6, 1931, and raised in Fairfield.

What was The Catch? The Catch was Mays’s over-the-shoulder running catch of a Vic Wertz drive in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series.

When was Willie Mays inducted into the Hall of Fame? He was elected in 1979 on his first ballot.

Sources

1. Wikipedia: Willie Mays
2. Encyclopedia of Alabama: Willie Mays
3. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum: Willie Mays

Editorially reviewed by Specialty Digest Editorial TeamLast reviewed November 10, 2026Researched and drafted with AI assistanceReport an issue