16 facts about Willie Mays
- William Howard Mays, Jr. was born on May 6, 1931.
- Willie Mays, Jr. was born to Ann and Willie Howard Mays, Sr., who divorced when he was three years old.
- Willie Mays played the majority of his career with the New York and San Francisco Giants before finishing with the New York Mets.
- Mays was raised mainly by his aunt, Sarah. He learned baseball and other sports from his father and his father's Industrial League teammates.
- He was only 20 in 1951, when he received the phone call to join the Giants at the Polo Grounds in New York City.
- Many consider him to be the greatest all-around player of all time.
- Joe DiMaggio said Mays had the greatest throwing arm in baseball.
- Willie Mays won two MVP awards and tied a record with 24 appearances in the All-Star Game.
- His career batting average was .302.
- Willie Mays ended his career with 660 career home runs, third at the time of his retirement, and currently fourth all-time.
- Mays won the Gold Glove Award 12 times.
- Willie Mays is the only Major League player to have hit a home run in every inning from the 1st through the 16th.
- Willie Mays hit 50 or more home runs in both 1955 and 1965. This time span represents the longest stretch between 50 plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history.
- On January 23, 1979, Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility.
- Shortly after his Hall of Fame election, Mays took a job at the Park Place Casino (now Bally's Atlantic City) in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
- On May 15, 2010, May was awarded the MLB Beacon of Life Award at the Civil Rights game at Great American Ballpark.
