There is sad news to report from the baseball world. Willie Mays, perhaps the game’s greatest all around player and also one its great ambassadors in the 50 odd years since his retirement following the 1973 season, has died at the age of 93.
Born on May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama, May was a highly regarded all-around athlete in high school and made his professional debut with the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro American League in 1948 before he’d graduated. The New York Giants signed him in 1950 and the rest is history.
Nicknamed “the Say Hey Kid”, Mays burst on the scene in 1951, hitting 20 home runs to win the National League Rookie of the Year award as the Giants famously won their first pennant in 14 years.