Willie Mays: Photos of the Say Hey Kid, on and off the Diamond
Willie Mays: Photos of the Say Hey Kid, on and off the Diamond
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Not published in LIFE. Twenty-two-year-old Willie Mays at spring training in Arizona in 1954, the year the Giants won the World Series — the sole championship of Mays' long career.Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
With all due respect to Aaron, Musial, and even Ruth, Willie Mays was the greatest all-around player baseball has ever seen. The epitome of the “five tool” threat—he could run, throw, field and hit for average and with astonishing power—Mays bedeviled opponents and thrilled fans for more than two decades.
Legends vary about who first bestowed the famous nickname, the “Say Hey Kid,” on Mays when he was still a young player in New York. By the time he was playing in San Francisco, after the Giants’ move west in the late Fifties, it was clear that, whatever he was called, Mays was on track to challenge the most hallowed records in the game. As it happened, he retired with some mind-boggling numbers: 660 home runs (fourth all-time—although for some fans who don’t credit scandal-plagued Barry Bonds’ numbers, he’s still third behind Aaron and Ruth); 3,283 hits (11th all-time); a .300 batting average; 1,903 RBIs (10th all-time); a record-tying 24 All-Star appearances . . . and on and on. (Trivia note: Mays is Barry Bonds’s godfather.)
Here, six decades after his 1951 major league debut, LIFE.com offers a gallery of photos of Willie Mays by LIFE photographers from the ’50s and ’60s—an era when the man’s preternatural talent and infectious joy on the diamond provided millions with one more giant reason to love the game.
Not published in LIFE. Twenty-two-year-old Willie Mays at spring training in Arizona in 1954, the year the Giants won the World Series — the sole championship of Mays' long career.Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays thrills the crowd, spring training, Arizona, 1954.Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays signs autographs for fans, 1954. "I'm not sure what the hell charisma is, but I get the feeling it's Willie Mays," Reds' slugger Ted "Big Klu" Kluszewski once said.Alfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays, manager Leo Durocher (left), and teammate Whitey Lockman, spring training, 1954. Loomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays races to first during a San Francisco Giants game in 1964. Ralph Morse—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays at home in Harlem with his landlady, Mrs. Ann Goosby, in 1954. A profile of Mays published that year in LIFE pointed out that Mrs. Goosby "cooks his meals, keeps his clothes clean and generally takes care of" the young star.Alfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays clowns with teammate and fellow Hall of Famer, Monte Irvin. "I've got a couple of kids, 6 and 10, but when I take a road trip I've got another one on my hands. Willie is 23 years old and he'll drink maybe seven big sodas and a dozen Cokes in 12 hours." — Irvin, quoted in the Sept. 13, 1954 edition of LIFEAlfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays at home, 1954. "Willie is one of those abnormal guys who never lets success and fame go to his head." — Monte Irvin, teammateAlfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays trots in from center field, 1954. "I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. I can't believe [Ruth] could run as well as Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder." — Sandy Koufax, Dodgers pitching legendLoomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays in the batting cage. "God gave Willie the instincts of a ballplayer. All I had to do was add a little practical advice about wearing his pants higher to give the pitchers a smaller strike zone." — Leo DurocherLoomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays, 1954. "Joe Louis, [violinist] Jascha Heifetz, Sammy Davis Jr., and [Hall of Fame race horse] Nashua rolled into one." — Leo Durocher, trying to sum up the scope of Mays' talentsLoomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays and teammates in the dugout, spring training, 1954. "Life on the Giants wouldn't be the same without Willie," Mays' friend and roommate Monte Irvin once said. "Just being around him keeps me young and full of spirit . . . but I wish he'd let me sleep a little longer in the morning."Alfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays, spring training, 1954. "He makes the kind of plays that win ball games, and he'll do it every day." — Hal Jeffcoat, Chicago Cubs pitcherLoomis Dean—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays in the outfield, 1964. "He would routinely do things you never saw anyone else do. He'd score from first base on a single. He'd take two bases on a pop-up. He'd throw somebody out at the plate on one bounce. And the bigger the game, the better he played." — Peter Magowan, former San Francisco Giants presidentRalph Morse—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty ImagesNot published in LIFE. Willie Mays besieged by fans after a game. "If they had a Nobel Prize for baseball, Willie would have won it." — Lon Simmons, San Francisco broadcasterAlfred Eisenstaedt—TIME & LIFE Pictures/Getty Images
