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Tributes pour in for baseball legend

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Baseball legend Willie Mays has died on the age of 93, the San Francisco Giants introduced on Tuesday night.

The “Say Hey Child” and legendary heart fielder is likely one of the greatest to ever play the sport, beginning his profession with the Birmingham Black Barons within the Negro Leagues earlier than making his MLB debut with the then-New York Giants in 1951.

Mays stayed with the Giants throughout their transfer to San Francisco and performed for the group from 1951 to 1972. He was a 24 MLB All-Star, earned 12 Gold Glove Awards and gained a World Sequence with the Giants in 1954.

He performed for the New York Mets over the last two years of his MLB profession in 1972 and 1973.

Mays’ No. 24 jersey is retired by the Giants and Mets, and he was inducted into the Baseball Corridor of Fame in 1979. He made the MLB’s All-Century Group and its All-Time Group, cementing his standing as an ironclad titan of baseball. In actual fact, the World Sequence’ MVP Award is known as after Mays.

His demise comes simply two days earlier than the Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals on the historic Rickwood Area in Birmingham, the place Mays began his baseball profession. Mays wasn’t slated to attend Thursday’s recreation. Nevertheless, he issued a press release to elucidate his absence on Monday.

“I’m not capable of get to Birmingham this yr however will observe the sport again right here within the Bay Space. My coronary heart shall be with all of you who’re honoring the Negro League ballplayers, who ought to all the time be remembered, together with all my teammates on the Black Barons,” Mays shared in his assertion. “I wished to thank Main League Baseball, the Giants, the Cardinals and all of the followers who’ll be at Rickwood or watching the sport. It’ll be a big day, and I hope the children will take pleasure in it and be impressed by it.”

League commissioner Rob Manfred honored Mays as top-of-the-line to ever play the game after information broke of his demise.

“His unbelievable achievements and statistics don’t start to explain the awe that got here with watching Willie Mays dominate the sport in each means conceivable,” Manfred mentioned in a press release. “We are going to always remember this true Large on and off the sector.”

Tributes instantly poured in for Mays, one of many unquestioned Mt. Rushmore figures in baseball historical past.



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