June 22, 2024 • 4 mins
Our Way Black History Fact highlights the life of the baseball legend Willie Mays
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Right now though, it is time for the Way Black
History Fact and Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored
by Major Threads for Fashionable Innovative Sports, where checkmajorthreads dot com. Today,
I'm gonna share a bit from Wikipedia about Willie Mays
for those who don't know. He passed away this past week,
and you know, he did a lot in terms of
(00:23):
bringing folks around to black people playing in baseball. So
we're gonna share just a little bit about him and
just kind of commemorate his life. He lived a full life,
died very happy and content. So this isn't a sad moment.
This is a celebration. But Willie Howard Mays Junior born
nineteen thirty one through June eighteenth, twenty twenty four, nickname
(00:43):
the say Hey Kid, was an American professional baseball centerfielder
who played twenty three seasons in Major League Baseball. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, May's ranked second
behind only Babe Ruth on most all time lists, including
those of These Sporting News and ESPN. May's played in
the National League between nineteen fifty one and nineteen seventy
three for the New York Slash San Francisco Giants and
(01:04):
New York Mets. Born in West Alabama, Mayze was an
all around athlete. Several Major League teams were interested in
signing Mayze, but they had to wait until he graduated
high school to offer him a contract. Mayes's professional baseball
career began in nineteen forty eight, when he played briefly
during the summer with the Chattanooga chew Choose, a Negro
Minor League team. Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham
Black Bearons of the Negro American League, where he was
(01:26):
known as Buck. The Black Barons were managed by Piper Davis,
a teammate of Mayz's father on the Industrial team. When
Fairfield Industrial principal et Oliver threatened to suspend Mays for
playing professional ball, Davis and Mayes's father worked out in
an agreement Mays would only play home games for the
Black Bearons. In return, he could still play high school football.
(01:46):
Mays helped Birmingham advance the nineteen forty eight Negro World Series,
where they lost four to one to the Homestead Grays.
He hit zero point twenty six to two for the
season and stood out because of his excellent fielding and
base running debut in MLB with the Giants and won
the Rookie of the Year award in nineteen fifty one
after hitting twenty home runs to help the Giants win
their first Pennant in fourteen years. In nineteen fifty four,
(02:09):
he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award, leading the
Giants to their last World Series title before their move
to the West Coast. His over the shoulder catch in
Game one of the nineteen fifty four World Series is
one of the most famous baseball plays of all time.
After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on
to win another MVP award in nineteen sixty five and
also led the Giants to the nineteen sixty two World Series,
(02:31):
this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended
his career with a return to New York after a
mid season trade to the New York Mets in nineteen
seventy two, retiring after the team's trip to the nineteen
seventy three World Series. He served as coach for the
Mets for the rest of the decade and later rejoined
the Giants as a special assistant to the president and
general manager. The Giants retired his uniform number twenty four.
(02:54):
Remember that twenty four in nineteen seventy two, and the
address of their home stadium at and T. Bive is
twenty four Willie Mays Plaza. His bronze statue in front
of the main entrance is surrounded by twenty four palm trees,
and the right field wall is twenty four feet high.
Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in
(03:15):
nineteen seventy nine, his first year of eligibility, and was
named to the Major League Baseball All Century Team in
nineteen ninety nine. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom in two thousand and fifteen. So again, just an
amazing figure. You know, I'm not the biggest sports person,
but I definitely know who Willy Mays is. I definitely
(03:37):
know who Jackie Robinson is. And you know, this is
way black history, so we just thought we'd incorporated into
our way black history fact anything else can. And shout
out to Major League Baseball for finally making Negro league
statistics a part of Major League Baseball stats so that
Negro league players can be recognized as members of the
professional leagues and not some other side antillary league
Right now though, it is time for the Way Black
History Fact and Today's Way Black History Fact is sponsored
by Major Threads for Fashionable Innovative Sports, where checkmajorthreads dot com. Today,
I'm gonna share a bit from Wikipedia about Willie Mays
for those who don't know. He passed away this past week,
and you know, he did a lot in terms of
(00:23):
bringing folks around to black people playing in baseball. So
we're gonna share just a little bit about him and
just kind of commemorate his life. He lived a full life,
died very happy and content. So this isn't a sad moment.
This is a celebration. But Willie Howard Mays Junior born
nineteen thirty one through June eighteenth, twenty twenty four, nickname
(00:43):
the say Hey Kid, was an American professional baseball centerfielder
who played twenty three seasons in Major League Baseball. Regarded
as one of the greatest players ever, May's ranked second
behind only Babe Ruth on most all time lists, including
those of These Sporting News and ESPN. May's played in
the National League between nineteen fifty one and nineteen seventy
three for the New York Slash San Francisco Giants and
(01:04):
New York Mets. Born in West Alabama, Mayze was an
all around athlete. Several Major League teams were interested in
signing Mayze, but they had to wait until he graduated
high school to offer him a contract. Mayes's professional baseball
career began in nineteen forty eight, when he played briefly
during the summer with the Chattanooga chew Choose, a Negro
Minor League team. Later that year, Mays joined the Birmingham
Black Bearons of the Negro American League, where he was
(01:26):
known as Buck. The Black Barons were managed by Piper Davis,
a teammate of Mayz's father on the Industrial team. When
Fairfield Industrial principal et Oliver threatened to suspend Mays for
playing professional ball, Davis and Mayes's father worked out in
an agreement Mays would only play home games for the
Black Bearons. In return, he could still play high school football.
(01:46):
Mays helped Birmingham advance the nineteen forty eight Negro World Series,
where they lost four to one to the Homestead Grays.
He hit zero point twenty six to two for the
season and stood out because of his excellent fielding and
base running debut in MLB with the Giants and won
the Rookie of the Year award in nineteen fifty one
after hitting twenty home runs to help the Giants win
their first Pennant in fourteen years. In nineteen fifty four,
(02:09):
he won the NL Most Valuable Player Award, leading the
Giants to their last World Series title before their move
to the West Coast. His over the shoulder catch in
Game one of the nineteen fifty four World Series is
one of the most famous baseball plays of all time.
After the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays went on
to win another MVP award in nineteen sixty five and
also led the Giants to the nineteen sixty two World Series,
(02:31):
this time losing to the New York Yankees. He ended
his career with a return to New York after a
mid season trade to the New York Mets in nineteen
seventy two, retiring after the team's trip to the nineteen
seventy three World Series. He served as coach for the
Mets for the rest of the decade and later rejoined
the Giants as a special assistant to the president and
general manager. The Giants retired his uniform number twenty four.
(02:54):
Remember that twenty four in nineteen seventy two, and the
address of their home stadium at and T. Bive is
twenty four Willie Mays Plaza. His bronze statue in front
of the main entrance is surrounded by twenty four palm trees,
and the right field wall is twenty four feet high.
Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in
(03:15):
nineteen seventy nine, his first year of eligibility, and was
named to the Major League Baseball All Century Team in
nineteen ninety nine. Mays was awarded the Presidential Medal of
Freedom in two thousand and fifteen. So again, just an
amazing figure. You know, I'm not the biggest sports person,
but I definitely know who Willy Mays is. I definitely
(03:37):
know who Jackie Robinson is. And you know, this is
way black history, so we just thought we'd incorporated into
our way black history fact anything else can. And shout
out to Major League Baseball for finally making Negro league
statistics a part of Major League Baseball stats so that
Negro league players can be recognized as members of the
professional leagues and not some other side antillary league
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