San Francisco Giants Legend Willie Mays Dies at 93

“My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” Mays’ son, Michael Mays, said in a joint statement between the Giants and the Mays family. “I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood.”

Mays played in the Negro Leagues until he was drafted by the San Francisco Giants in 1951, where he earned the National League’s Rookie of the Year award. Three years later, Mays would lead the New York Giants to a 4-0 World Series Victory against the Cleveland Indians. Mays was voted the second-greatest player in baseball history behind Babe Ruth in an Associated Press poll in 1999. Later in 2020, he was rated number 1 by The Athletic’s Joe Posnanski.

Barack Obama hailed Mays as an ‘inspiration to an entire generation’.

According to the San Francisco Chronicle, Mays died of heart failure, while Larry Baer, the president and chief executive of the Giants, said Mays died at an assisted living facility, according to The New York Times.

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Willie Mays, widely considered baseball’s best all-around player, dies at 93

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