Willie Mays Biography - Growing Up, A Way Out, Tough Times In The North, Chronology, The First Full Season - Several Father Figures, CONTACT INFORMATION
1931-
American baseball player
He hit more than 600 home runs. He could reach base almost at will. He had defensive skills that boggled the mind. Willie Mays was one of the finest baseball players to ever step on the baseball field. In a twenty-two-year professional career with the Giants of New York and San Francisco, Mays consistently appeared near or at the top of almost every major statistic. His fantastic play, year in and year out, makes Willie Mays one of the best players baseball has ever known.
Several Father Figures
A big influence on the young Mays was his Black Barons manager, Piper Davis. Davis, who had spent many years as a player and was now a player/manager, saw that Mays was no mere baseball player. Mays was someone with innate talent, and with tutoring and development, he believed Mays could become something even more special.
CONTACT INFORMATION
Address: Say Hey Inc., 51 Mount Vernon Lane, Atherton, CA 94206.
Additional Topics
Willie Mays was born on May 6, 1931, in Fairfield, Alabama. His father, William Howard, was a steelworker who mined in the all-black town of Fairfield, only thirteen miles from Birmingham. His parents, gifted athletes in their own right, were only sixteen at the time of his birth. Willie's father played center field for the Birmingham Industrial League Semi Pro team, while his mother Anna h…
As with many players who grew up poor, and especially black players in the rural South, Willie Mays knew baseball was his ticket out of poverty, a way out of the steelmill life his father knew. It was also a way out of the blatantly racist and segregated South. As a child, Mays would much rather have been playing ball than studying. Rather than books, he focused his intelligence on the only game t…
By the time Willie Mays was nineteen, Jackie Robinson had already broken the color barrier in baseball. When a scout for New York Giants came to watch a Black Barons game, he didn't go to the field to watch Mays. Instead, it was one of his teammates who was supposed to get the looksee. But after a few minutes in the ballpark, the scout realized there was only one player there. Mays had caug…
Mays returned to the Giants in 1954 for his first full season and led his team to a world championship. That season he hit .345, blasted forty-one home runs, and won the league's Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award. He also led the league in batting average. During the 1954 World Series, Mays made what is perhaps one of the most famous defensive plays in baseball. "The Catch," as…
Though he would never get a chance to play in the major leagues, Piper Davis teamed with Artie Wilson, who went on to the majors, to form one of the outstanding double-play combinations in Negro League baseball. Davis became one of the best player/managers in the Negro leagues, both playing and coaching Willie Mays, serving as one of the young Mays' father figures as he made his way to the …
Davis and Durocher were prophetic in their claims that there was something more to Mays than met the eye. During his time with the Giants, depending on what the team needed and what Durocher asked of him, Mays was able increase the number of home runs if need be. Yet just as often, "Say Hey"—a nickname he earned because he often forgot his teammates' names—was sa…
Mays married Marghuerite Wendell, in 1956. They had a baby boy, Michael, just two years later. In 1957 the Giants moved to San Francisco. Mays, however, wasn't on top of the world. He was a New York hero, and he loved it in The Big Apple. The move west would be difficult, and it sent bad blood flowing between Mays and the fans. The people in California didn't revere Mays like the fol…
(With Jeff Harris) Danger in Center Field, Argonaut Books, 1963. (With Howard Liss) My Secrets of Playing Baseball (illustrated by David Sutton), Viking, 1967. (As told to Charles Einstein) Willie Mays: My Life In and Out of Baseball, Bookthrift Co., 1978. (With Maxine Berger) Play Ball, Wanderer Books, 1980. (With Lou Sahadi) Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays, Simon & Schuster, 198…
Mays continues to remain heavily involved in the world of baseball, and he remains in the spotlight. In the 2002 World Series, Mays received quite a bit of press. His godson, Giants slugger Barry Bonds—who is often compared to Mays—had a phenomenal Series, even though his team would eventually lose to the Angels. Mays rarely gives interviews, but during the series the pride he felt f…
Encyclopedia of World Biography. 2nd ed. 17 Volumes. Detroit: Gale, 1998. Grabowski, John F. Willie Mays. New York: Chelsea House, 1990. Mays, Willie, and Maxine Berger. Play Ball. Wanderer Books, 1980. Mays, Willie (as told to Charles Einstein). Willie Mays: My Life In and Out of Baseball. Bookthrift Co., 1978. Mays, Willie, and Jeff Harris. Danger in Center Field. Larchmont, NY: Argonaut Books, …
Citing this material
Please include a link to this page if you have found this material useful for research or writing a related article. Content on this website is from high-quality, licensed material originally published in print form. You can always be sure you're reading unbiased, factual, and accurate information.
Highlight the text below, right-click, and select “copy”. Paste the link into your website, email, or any other HTML document.
User Comments Add a comment…