Remembering 2024’s Losses: Willie Mays

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When I started this, I warned you there’d be sports figures. They’re all baseball players, which probably makes a lot of people’s heads hurt more. Hey, I love the game, and I always will. Today is the first of three baseball greats who left us in 2024. Willie Mays “The Catch.” “Say Hey.” Even if you don’t know diddly poo about baseball, those two phrases are so associated with Willie Mays that you can’t help but know them. (John Fogerty’s baseball anthem “Centerfield” has the line “Say hey, Willie” in it.) “The Catch” is so legendary that it is listed that way in Wikipedia. Say “The Catch” to any baseball fan, and they’ll either know exactly what you’re talking about, or they really aren’t baseball fans. It’s the opening clip in the linked retrospective below. He wasn’t trying to “showboat” then, he was trying to save the game for the New York Giants (as they were known in 1954) in the first game of the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Giants won the World Series that year, a reward for that amazing catch. That was only part of the Say Hey Kid’s legacy. (If you’re wondering about that, a sports beat reporter noted that Mays, during his rookie year [1951], didn’t know the names of a lot of people [and this wasn’t too far removed from Jackie Robinson’s “breaking the color barrier,” either], so he’d simply say, “Say hey” to them. The reporter published it, and it took on a life of its own.) Let’s see, a lifetime batting average of .301, nearly 3,300 hits, 660 home runs (all without steroids, I hasten to add), over 1900 RBIs, and over 300 stolen bases. He did it all. He was a two-time National League MVP and the 1951 NL Rookie of the year. And, in 1979, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame on the first ballot. In short, he was amazing. Growing up in Alabama, he played baseball, basketball, and football. His father was an amateur baseball player in Birmingham, so Mays’ primary interest became baseball. He played in the then-Negro Leagues (which are now considered part of Major League Baseball) for the Birmingham Black Barons until 1950, when the New York Giants signed him. Oh, regarding that magical 1954 season of his? He was discharged from the Army the day before he reported for Spring Training. Willie Mays was, is, and ever shall be one of the greatest names in baseball history. Willie Mays Born Willie Howard Mays, Jr., May 6, 1931, Westfield, Alabama Died Jun2 18, 2024, Pablo Alto, California (heart failure) (age 93) HALL OF FAME: Baseball A lovely retrospective of Mays’ career from MLB: