Willie Mays
name: label: referenced
content: Mays, Willie
label: maker
content: Adirondack
notes: label: Description
content: Wooden baseball bat inscribed ADIRONDACK / WILLIE MAYS / PERSONAL MODEL. "The Say Hey Kid" Willie Howard Mays Jr. (1931-2024) began his career in the Negro Leagues (1947) before joining the Major League's New York Giants in 1951. Excepting time in military service (1952-1953,) the exuberant center fielder became a mainstay of the Giants, who relocated to San Francisco in 1958. In 1973 Mays signed with the New York Mets, where he would play his final two seasons.
label: Description
content: Mays started his Major League career by winning the 1951 National League Rookie of the Year Award. A two time National League Most Valuable Player (1954, 1965) Mays led the Giants to victory in the 1954 World Series, where in game one, he famously caught a ball, hit by Cleveland Indian Vic Wertz, over his shoulder. Now simply referred to in baseball lore as "The Catch," the play is the best remembered of the many defensive efforts that earned the speedy outfielder 12 gold gloves to go along with his 24 All Star Game recognitions.
label: Description
content: Mays finished his career with .302 batting average, 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, 1,903 runs batted in, and 338 stolen bases. One of the greatest all-around players the sport has ever seen, Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. In 2015 he was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
label: Location
content: Currently not on view
place: label: Place Made
content: United States: New York, Dolgeville
topic: label: web subject
content: Sports
label: name of sport
content: Baseball
label: level of sport
content: Professional
setName: label: See more items in
content: Culture and the Arts: Sport and Leisure
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of American History
identifier: label: ID Number
content: 2009.0243.06
label: accession number
content: 2009.0243
label: catalog number
content: 2009.0243.06
objectType: label: Object Name
content: bat, baseball
physicalDescription: label: Physical Description
content: wood, ash (overall material)
label: Measurements
content: overall: 33 1/4 in x 2 1/4 in; 84.455 cm x 5.715 cm