Baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays stormed into the MLB right after Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in 1947. New York Daily News via Getty Images Willie Mays, a Hall of Fame baseball player known to fans as the “Say Hey Kid,” died Tuesday at age 93, The San Francisco Giants announced. “It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 93,” the team said in a statement.
Advertisement Mays played center field in the MLB from 1951 to 1973 for the New York Giants, the San Francisco Giants and the New York Mets. He hit 660 home runs and won one World Series during his 22 seasons. It is with great sadness that we announce that San Francisco Giants Legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays passed away peacefully this afternoon at the age of 93.
pic.twitter.com/Qk4NySCFZQ — SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024 In 1951, he was the National League’s Rookie of the Year, exploding onto the scene just four years after Jackie Robinson famously broke baseball’s color barrier on the Brooklyn Dodgers, helping usher in a new era in the MLB.
Mays’ excellence played its part in helping desegregate the league, exposing fans, reporters and decision-makers to the wealth of baseball talent that had been relegated to the Negro Leagues . The entirety of Mays’ career presents an argument that he was the greatest all-around baseball player ever. On top of 660 home runs, Mays coll.