Research is still ongoing and well continue to publish updates as more information becomes available. NL Rookie of the Year. We present them here for purely educational purposes. #DeDollarization #USDollar #Dollar #GeoPolitics Now get regular updates on , Willie Mays is a former professional American baseball center fielder. That includes his season and a half with the Mets -- at ages 41 and 42 -- when he hit just 14 homers in 135 games. on HBO and HBO Max (9 p.m. Before Willie Mays, the typical baseball scout's report on a talented black player would mention the player's color first, his ability second. Willie Mays. We use cookies and other tracking technologies to improve your browsing experience on our site, show personalized content and targeted ads, analyze site traffic, and understand where our audiences come from. Stats. ET), here's a look at 24 facts on No. The Book: Playing the Percentages in Baseball, Did not play in major or minor leagues (Military Service). 2015 - Willie Mays received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in 2015. No other player has 13 such seasons, consecutive or otherwise, in Major League history. He won the National League Most Valuable Player Award twice during that stretch -- first in 1954 and again in '65 -- but he was a yearly contender for the honor. Top-Rated baseball bat Nicknames Louisville Slugger Mickey Mantle The Destroyer "The Beast" "The Truncheon" Cudgel George Brett Cal Ripken Jr. Ichiro Roger Maris Stick Babe Ruth Club Ken Griffey Jr. Mallet Pete Rose Hank Aaron Willie Mays Hammer Bat Slugger Stan Musial The Demolition Man The Tank The Terminator The Crusher The Pittbull The . Mays, of course, exceeded some of those plateaus rather easily, finishing with 3,283 hits, 660 homers and 338 steals. From his remarkable combination of speed and power at the plate to his iconic defense in center field, Willie Mays is undoubtedly one of the best all-around players in Major League history. Copyright 1999- - Sportswriter Harry Jupiter in The San Francisco Chronicle [Willie Mays Quotes], Willie 'The Say Hey Kid' Mays Autograph on a 1986 Topps Baseball Card (#403 | Checklist), Willie Mays Miscellaneous Items of Interest. Willie Mays stats for 1973 and the rest of his career. 6th inning (74), Hall of Fame: Inducted as Player in 1979. He helped lead the Mets to the World Series in 1973 and 1976, and was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. Did you know that Willie Mays appeared in 67 games at home, had 200 at-bats, drove in 30 runs, scored 41 times, had 58 hits (14 doubles / 3 triples / 10 home runs), walked 59 times (6 intentional), struck out 51 times, was hit by a pitcher 3 times, sacrificed 1 times (0 hits & 1 flies), and finished at home with a .29 batting average, .456 on base percentage and .54 slugging average? Willie Mays hit 365 solo homers, 220 with a single runner on base, 67 with two men on base, and 8 grand slams. 24 - Willie Mays was an All-Star twenty-four times, tied with Hank Aaron and Stan Musial for the most in baseball history, prompting Ted Williams to say, "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays.". Negro League data is not complete. He inflated his .618 OPS with the San Francisco Giants (over 19 games) to .848 with a .402 OBP that was one of his higher marks in the Majors. Where what happened yesterday is being preserved today. Top-10 ranked statistics are highlighted in gray. Willie Mays was born on Wednesday, May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama. 13) League leader in everything?While some players consistently lead the league in a certain category -- whether it be home runs or stolen bases or triples -- it was nearly impossible to predict which stat Mays would ultimately lead his league in for a given season. Full Name: Willie Mays Aikens View Player Info from the B-R Bullpen. If the Date is followed by an asterisk (*), Mays started during that game at the first position listed in 19) Three is good, four is betterOf the 28 players in the 500-home run club, none hit as many triples as Mays' 140. All images are property the copyright holder and are displayed here for informational purposes only. Willie Mays Stats, Fantasy & News. Gaps In The Road. The chart below is a comprehensive analysis of The Baseball Cube . View More Videos. 'He was in total denial,' says Aikens' former agent, Ron Shapiro, who eventually had him admitted to a drug treatment program. The 20 year old Mays next up when the Giants win the pennant. Much of the play-by-play, game results, and transaction information both shown and used to create certain data sets was obtained free of charge from and is copyrighted by RetroSheet. Do you dislike it? us, High School: Fairfield Industrial HS (Fairfield, AL), Debut: Part of the Baseball Almanac Family. Mays expects it and unravels, bringing the barrel of his bat around on an outside fastball that skips between 3rd base and short for a hit. [Answer]. Willie Mays Aikens; Nacido: 10/14/1954 . For more than a decade, umpire Bob Motley called balls and strikes for the Negro Baseball League, earning the opportunity to work with such legends as Hank Aaron, Ernie Banks, and Willie Mays. Stats Awards Fabulous Feats Famous Firsts Hall of Fame Hitting Charts . Did you know the smallest crowd at a League Championship game was 24,265 and that game was played on October 11, 1973? Data Provided By - Sportswriter Harry Jupiter in The San Francisco Chronicle [Willie Mays Quotes], Willie 'The Say Hey Kid' Mays Autograph on a 1986 Topps Baseball Card (#403 | Checklist), Willie Mays League Championship Series Pitching Stats, Willie Mays League Championship Series Hitting Stats, Willie Mays League Championship Series Fielding Stats, Willie Mays League Championship Series Miscellaneous Stats, Willie Mays League Championship Series Miscellaneous Items of Interest. vs. PHI 5 AB, 0 H, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB, Last Game: Willie Mays' 11 . Exceeded rookie limits during 1951 season, View Player Bio Willie Mays | National Baseball Hall of Fame Plaque | Class of 1979 (HOF), The Say Hey Kid only won a single batting title, when he hit .345 in 1954, but that same year he also led the National League in slugging percentage (which he led five times), on base percentage (which he led five times) and triples (which he led three times). Incredibly, Mays' four-homer effort came opposite fellow Hall of Famer Henry Aaron, who hit two long balls of his own in one of the best head-to-head slugging showdowns of all-time. Aikens was 22 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 17, 1977, with the California Angels. Next pitch, Mays offers at a sweeping slider that is somehow deemed a no-swing by first base umpire and Mays, half-turned towards the dugout, leans back on his bat, a bit chastised now, almost embarrassed that he got the call. "Do you have a favorite quote from or about this particular Major League Baseball player that you would like to see here? "I don't make history. History All-Star Game; A.L.C.S. This marked one of two career appearances at shortstop for Mays, who played 2,832 games in center field, 83 at first base, 12 in right field, two in left and one at third base. He dropped the cross three times, didn't he? The Giants catching conundrum is getting more complicated, 2023 Willie McCovey Memorial Community Prospect List No. See coverage note. 1960s - Willie Mays, on January 17, 1970, was named by The Sporting News the Player of the Decade, the best ballplayers during the entire decade of the 1960s! Gender: Male. The Willie Mays All-Star stats seen below include his All-Star year-by-year hitting stats, All-Star fielding stats, and All-Star pitching stats (where applicable). Facing the Mets in Game 2 of a doubleheader at Shea Stadium on May 31, 1964, Mays shifted from center field to shortstop to begin the bottom of the 10th inning. The photograph became the poster image of his final year: a hero leveled, half-buried in the ruins of his career, helpless and begging. May 25, 1951 update=copyright.getFullYear(); Stats. Join Baseball Almanac as we take a look at some additional numbers of interest as they relate to the best five-tool player in Major League Baseball history: 1 - Willie Mays was the number one ranked center fielder in baseball history by Bill James in The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract . These type of numbers / leaderboard appearances continued on across his career prompting Hall of Famer Leo Durocher Mays first skipper in the big leagues to say in Nice Guys Finish Last (Chicago Press, 09/15/2009, Page 385), "If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day, I'd still look you right in the eye and tell you that Willie was better. 2019 Topps Update 150 Years of Baseball Black #15077 Willie Mays - Check out your favorite player cards listed in Beckett Marketplace. Baseball's 100 Greatest Players. 17) All-around talentMays had three seasons in which he racked up at least 8.0 offensive bWAR and 2.0 defensive bWAR. The Atherton City Council has approved a donation from Mayor Rick DeGolia and his wife to name a conference room in the new Atherton Library after Mays. 4 - Willie Mays hit four home runs in a game on April 30, 1961, only the sixth instance in National League history and a record for Most Home Runs in a Game Record that still stands to this day. I wished I could just strike that year-and-a-half from the back of his baseball card, wipe clean the final row of his stat sheet, as if such a small blemish could undermine the Say Hey Kids resplendent tapestry of a career. in Westfield, AL Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Fairfield Industrial High School (Fairfield, AL), Willie Mays World Series Stats by Baseball Almanac. The 1958 San Francisco Giants season was the franchise's first season in San Francisco, California and 76th season overall. Willie Mays had 3,293 hits over his career. document.write(update); Mays accounted for at least 7.0 bWAR in each of those 13 seasons from 1954-66, the longest such streak in big league history. 1973 National League All-Star. Its an eerily parallel scene to the Bobby Thomson walk-off two decades previous. 1973 New York Mets. 1954 - Willie Mays made "The Catch" during the 1954 World Series. 24) Superstar on and off the fieldIn 1971, Mays was named the inaugural recipient of the Commissioner's Award, which was later renamed the Roberto Clemente Award following Clemente's death in '72. Mays led the team in eight offensive categories in 1962: runs 130 , doubles 36 , home runs 49 , RBI 141 , stolen bases 18 , walks 78 , In Game1 of the World Series, a 62 loss to New York, Mays recorded three hits. But looking back through these first two games of the 73 World Series (which might be the best thing on Youtube right now), you can see that Mays really wanted to be out there on that diamond. On the road, Willie Mays appeared in 73 games, had 232 at-bats, drove in 34 runs, scored 43 times, had 59 hits (12 doubles / 2 triples / 9 home runs), walked 56 times (5 intentional), struck out 75 times, was hit by a pitcher 0 times, sacrificed 4 times (1 hits & 3 flies), and finished at home with a .254 batting average, .395 on base percentage and .439 slugging average? The next pitch comes quick and angry. Why couldnt he have just recognized the signs of decline and bowed out gratefully? Willie Mays World Series Stats by Baseball Almanac. Keep in mind, he also averaged "only" 21 homers and 70 RBIs over his final five seasons with the Giants. Willie Aikens Autograph on a 1980 Topps (#368), Willie Aikens Miscellaneous Items of Interest. If you find this type of "free" data useful please consider the official stats partner of the NBA, NHL and MLB. Awards; Ballparks; College Baseball . The 1951 Bowman is the only recognized Willie Mays rookie card and one of the most valuable baseball cards in the hobby and easily among his most expensive.. After starting his rookie campaign in a terrible 0-12 slump, Mays sent a Warren Spahn pitch over the left field wall of the Polo Grounds for his first Major League hit. His .407 on-base percentage and .626 slugging percentage that season are the highest among any of the four players in this exclusive group. 14) Founder of the 50-20 clubIn 1955, Mays became the first player in Major League history to hit 50 home runs and steal 20 bases in the same season. Become a Stathead & surf this site ad-free. * 21+ (19+ CA-ONT) (18+ NH/WY). Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Fairfield Industrial High School (Fairfield, AL), Willie Mays All-Star Stats by Baseball Almanac. . Willie Mays is shown "the key" to the Willie Mays Ballpark by Bob Hellman before the opening ceremony for the Homer Field Willie Mays Ballpark on May 9, 2015. "I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw." 2) A game to remember: Four-homer barrageMays is one of just 18 players in Major League history to hit four home runs in a single game. Hank Aaron was second with 96.4 WAR, followed by Mickey Mantle at 90.0. The Official Site of Minor League Baseball web site includes features, news, rosters, statistics, schedules, teams, live game radio broadcasts, and video clips. When Willie Mays joined the New York Giants in 1951, black players were still a rarity in the major leagues. 1966 Topps Willie Mays 2022-11-08. . Yet neither could find an answer for Mays' prowess at the plate. Salaries may not be complete (especially pre-1985) and may not include some earned bonuses, Note, this is done in an automated way, so we apologize for any errors, & please. Who did it? - Sportswriter Harry Jupiter in The San Francisco Chronicle [Willie Mays Quotes], Willie Mays Career Home Runs | Research by Baseball Almanac. Mays was the model of consistency from 1954-66, stringing together a 13-season run of pure excellence. Search for: Willie Mays Stats. Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. 24. All logos are the trademark & property of their owners and not Sports Reference LLC. The Giants will face off against Bruce Bochys Rangers today in Cactus League action. Willie Mays All-Star Stats by Baseball Almanac. Mays also ranks second within the 500-homer club in stolen bases (338), trailing only Barry Bonds (514). copyright=new Date(); Willie howard mays. Throughout most of 1952-53 Mays served in the Army, when he returned in 1954 he led the league with his batting average, home runs, and total runs. Standings. -. Same stance, slightly cocked and slightly open, his fingers wringing the wooden handle of his bat. Keep in mind that upon his return to the Majors in '54, Mays accounted for at least 7.0 WAR every season from 1954-66. Why did he have to turn 40? He played in only 34 games in 1952, then missed the entire '53 season after being drafted into the Army. The thud didn't really come until Dec. 12, 1994, when he stood before U.S. District Judge Dean Whipple on federal drug and firearms charges." 1973. Watch our How-To Videos to Become a Stathead, Subscribe to Stathead and get access to more data than you can imagine. See coverage note. document.write(update); I catch fly balls." Actually, Willie Mays did both. The All-Star label/link in the final section only shows whether or not Willie Mays was an All-Star during the season where he appeared in the World Series (Dash=Not an All-Star | Stats=An All-Star and the link leads to the All-Star Game). Over 66 games, Mays batted .211 with .646 OPS. document.write(update); Kyle Harrison and Marco Luciano lead a pack of surprising names. Stats. One of the established facts is that he has collected 89 stolen bases and scored a whopping 106 runs with 187 hits and 29 total doubles. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Willie Mays 1971 League Championship Series Batting Logs. 21) Split proofFor Mays, it didn't matter where he was playing or who he was facing -- he was going to produce. Willie Mays hit 660 home runs during his career, 335 while playing at home, 325 while on the road. In the box, through the fuzz of blown out colors and poor quality retention, Mays looks like he did in his prime. You can see stats, World Series, awards and more. Willie Mays: New York/San Francisco Giants (1951-1952, 1954-1972), New York Mets (1972-1973) . the Position(s) column. Mays clearly didn't miss a beat upon returning in '54, leading the Majors with a .345 average and a .667 slugging percentage, while also racking up 41 homers, 110 RBIs and an NL-best 13 triples en route to earning his first NL MVP Award. As for opposing pitchers, he was a career .300 hitter with a .917 against righties, and a .305 hitter with a 1.006 OPS vs. lefties. . If so, please send it to us, and we'll update this page immediately." Willie Mays is the 13th player in Major League Baseball history to have his . Birth City: Westfield. As a player, Willie Mays could never be captured by mere statistics." Did you know that in the Willie Mays Miscellaneous World Series Items of Interest section seen above you can click the Stats link under the World Series label and a truly comprehensive history of that World Series will appear on . Still, it's hard not to wonder what he might have done with an extra 1,000 plate appearances in the early days of his career. Willie Mays played for 4 teams; the Birmingham Black Barons, New York Giants, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. The Willie Mays League Championship Series stats seen below include his League Championship Series year-by-year hitting stats, League Championship Series fielding stats, and League Championship Series pitching stats (where applicable). Weekend BP: Ismael Munguia makes a splash in his return, MLB Pipelines top 30 Giants prospects heading into 2023. Lou Gehrig is the only other player to post at least 7.0 WAR in even 10 straight seasons (he did it for 11 from 1927-37). $165,000.00. "No record book reflects this kind of concentration, determination, perseverance or ability. The six who preceded Mays were; Jack Doyle (1902), Dan McGann (1903-1907), Larry Doyle (1908-1916), Gus Mancuso (1937-1938), Mel Ott (1939-1947), and Alvin Dark (1950-1956). . Mays finally announced his intent to retire at the end of the season in September and the Mets dedicated a night to him to say good-bye in the middle of the postseason push. How comprehensive is our World Series data? Willie Mays! Willie Mays Stats, Fantasy & News Noticias. Part of the Baseball Almanac Family, Last-Modified: February 5, 2023 3:00 AM EST, The Oldest Living Major League Baseball Players, The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract, All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Awards, Most Seasons With XX Home Runs Record Book, Fairfield Industrial High School (Fairfield, AL). See coverage note. Main Menu. All major league baseball data including pitch type . Terms at draftkings.com/sportsbook. 1973 New York Mets. the 1971 regular season. Mays was 20 years old when he broke into the big leagues on May 25, 1951, with the New York Giants. Noticias Completas Postemporada 2022 Ligas Invernales 2022 Liga Dominicana 2022 Premios 2022 World Baseball Classic Homerun Derby X Premio Roberto Clemente Mejores Prospectos Juego de Estrellas Lanzadores Probables . Of course, the classic image is of him on his knees, arms spread wide, pleading with the umpire after an close play at the plate. Subscribe to Stathead Baseball: Get your first month FREEYour All-Access Ticket to the Baseball Reference Database. The tiny failures of the flesh, the prolonged but steady collapse: deaths dominoes. Compare this to the frazzled 42 year old left on deck, the bat and career out of his hands, the call already made. Why did we choose a Willie Mays quotation instead of a Babe Ruth quote?