Willie Mays Biography
A Westfield, Alabama native, Willie Mays (Willie Howard Mays Jr.) is an American former professional baseball center fielder. He was nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid”.
Willie Mays Age/Birthday
Mays was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, USA. He is 90 years old as of 2021.
Willie Mays Height
Mays stands at a height of 1.8 m.
Willie Mays Family
Mays was born to his parents Cat Mays (father) and Annie Satterwhite (mother). His mother was a gifted basketball and track star in high school. On the other hand, his father was a talented baseball player with the black team at the local iron plant and used to work as a railway porter and later at the steel mills in Westfield.
His father exposed him to baseball at an early age, playing catch with Willie at five and allowing him to sit on the bench with his Birmingham Industrial League team at ten. Mays was raised by his father together with two girls, Sarah and Ernestine.
Willie Mays Wife
Mays was married to Marghuerite Wendell Chapman (born 1926, died 2010) from 1956 and divorced in 1963. They had adopted a five-day-old baby named Michael in 1959, with whom Wendell toke for the majority of the time.
Later, he married Mae Louise Allen, a child welfare worker in San Francisco. However, Allen was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease and Mays devotedly cared for her until she died on April 19, 2013.
Willie Mays Education
Mays attended Fairfield Industrial High School where he played multiple sports.
Willie Mays Career
Mays played with the New York/San Francisco Giants for almost his entire 22-year Major League Baseball (MLB) career (1951–1952, 1954–1972) before finishing with the New York Mets (1972–1973). In 1979, he was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame as one of the greatest baseball players of all time.
Mays was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999, and he was ranked second on The Sporting News’ “100 Greatest Baseball Players” list. Mays finished his career with a batting average of. 302 hits, including 660 home runs, which ranks sixth all-time, and 1,903 RBI.
He has the most putouts (7,095) and extra-inning home runs in MLB history (22) Mays was a Mets coach until 1979 when he returned to the Giants as a Special Assistant to the President and General Manager. In 2015, he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom. Director Leo Durocher said, “Willie was better than a.450 hitter.”
Willie Mays Net Worth
Mays has an estimated net worth of $3 million.