Source: Bettmann / Getty
SAN FRANCISCO-Willie Mays was arguably the greatest center fielder to ever play Major League Baseball. He died Tuesday at the age of 93.
“My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” said Michael Mays in a statement released by the Giants. “I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood.”
Mays was an All-Star 24 times, which tied him for the second most in history. He finished in the top six in the voting in eleven of the next twelve seasons, twice as runner-up in 1958 and 1962. He led the NL in home runs four times and in slugging percentage five times while batting over .300 and posting 100 runs batted in ten times each.
He was the first NL player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season, the first player in history to reach both 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases, and the second player and the first right-handed hitter to hit 600 home runs.
Mays won the World Series in 1954 with the New York Giants. That was also the same year he won the National League MVP Award. He would win that award again in 1965.
Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
