Baseball Great Willie Mays died yesterday of heart failure. He was 93.
Mays made his pro baseball debut with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948 when he was 17. He played with Birmingham until 1950, when he signed with the then-New York Giants upon graduating high school. Mays first played with the Giants in 1951, winning National League Rookie of the Year and helping the Giants win the pennant.
Willie was selected to the All-Star Game 24 times. He won the National League Most Valuable Player award twice. His 660 career home runs were second to Babe Ruth at the time of Mays’ retirement. Mays won 12 Gold Glove Awards. He led the National League in stolen bases four times. Mays led the National League in home runs four times. He was the first player in National League history to have 30 home runs and 30 stolen bases in the same season. Making his career stats all the more remarkable is that Mays missed most of the 1952 and all of the 1953 seasons as the Army drafted him following the 1951 season.
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