062224 Way Black History Fact - Willie Mays

just kind of commemorate his life. He lived a full life, died very happy and content. So this isn't a sad moment. This is a celebration. But Willie Howard Mays Junior born nineteen thirty one through June eighteenth, twenty twenty four, nickname the say Hey Kid, was an American professional baseball centerfielder who played twenty three seasons in Major League Baseball. Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, May's ranked second behind only Babe Ruth on most all time lists, including

those of These Sporting News and ESPN. May's played in the National League between nineteen fifty one and nineteen seventy three for the New York Slash San Francisco Giants and New York Mets. Born in West Alabama, Mayze was an all around athlete. Several Major League teams were interested in signing Mayze, but they had to wait until he graduated

high school to offer him a contract. Mayes's professional baseball career began in nineteen forty eight, when he played briefly during the summer with the Chattanooga chew Choose, a Negro Minor League team. Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham Black Bearons of the Negro American League, where he was known as Buck. The Black Barons were managed by Piper Davis,

a teammate of Mayz's father on the Industrial team. When Fairfield Industrial principal et Oliver threatened to suspend Mays for playing professional ball, Davis and Mayes's father worked out in an agreement Mays would only play home games for the Black Bearons. In return, he could still play high school football. Mays helped Birmingham advance the nineteen forty eight Negro World Series, where they lost four to one to the Homestead Grays.

He hit zero point twenty six to two for the season and stood out because of his excellent fielding and base running debut in MLB with the Giants and won the Rookie of the Year award in nineteen fifty one after hitting twenty home runs to help the Giants win their first Pennant in fourteen years. In nineteen fifty four, he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award, leading the Giants to their last World Series title before their move

to the West Coast. His over the shoulder catch in Game one of the nineteen fifty four World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on to win another MVP award in nineteen sixty five and also led the Giants to the nineteen sixty two World Series,

this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended his career with a return to New York after a mid season trade to the New York Mets in nineteen seventy two, retiring after the team's trip to the nineteen seventy three World Series. He served as coach for the Mets for the rest of the decade and later rejoined the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager. The Giants retired his uniform number twenty four.

Remember that twenty four in nineteen seventy two, and the address of their home stadium at and T. Bive is twenty four Willie Mays Plaza. His bronze statue in front of the main entrance is surrounded by twenty four palm trees, and the right field wall is twenty four feet high. Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in nineteen seventy nine, his first year of eligibility, and was named to the Major League Baseball All Century Team in

nineteen ninety nine. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in two thousand and fifteen. So again, just an amazing figure. You know, I'm not the biggest sports person, but I definitely know who Willy Mays is. I definitely know who Jackie Robinson is. And you know, this is way black history, so we just thought we'd incorporated into

our way black history fact anything else can. And shout out to Major League Baseball for finally making Negro league statistics a part of Major League Baseball stats so that Negro league players can be recognized as members of the professional leagues and not some other side antillary league