Amid all the tributes and memories about the legendary Willie Mays, consider this perspective on his greatness:
He may have been baseball’s greatest living Hall of Famer — not just at the time of his death this week, but from the moment he was inducted in 1979.
As Ajay Stone strolled around historic Rickwood Field and gazed at tributes displayed in honor of Willie Mays and other Negro Leaguers, he clutched a cherished memory under his arm.
The death of baseball legend Willie Mays heightens the emotions for the special game between the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., on Thursday.
Willie Mays gave a message to his longtime friend Dusty Baker just a day before he died.
Mays, who died Tuesday afternoon at 93 years old, knew that he wouldn’t be able to make the trip to Birmingham, Alabama, for a week of festivities honoring the contributions that he and other Negro Leaguers have made to baseball. But he wanted Baker to share a message to the city he long called home.
Long after “The Catch” and his 660 home runs, and the daring sprints around the bases with his hat falling off, Willie Mays could still command a room like no other.
Gerald Watkins watched Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and other New York Yankees wade through stalks of corn onto an Iowa field in 2021, near the filming site for the 1989 baseball movie “Field of Dreams.”
The death of baseball legend Willie Mays at age 93 on Tuesday prompted tributes from across the sports world.
Willie Mays raced at top speed toward the center-field wall at the spacious Polo Grounds and somehow managed to track down and corral a fast-traveling ball with an over-the-shoulder catch that became the most iconic moment in the Hall of Famer’s decorated career that featured 660 home runs.
Reaction from the sports world and beyond to the death of baseball Hall of Famer Willie Mays. He died Tuesday at age 93, Mays family and the San Francisco Giants jointly announced. Mays’ electrifying combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players.