Willie Mays is a retired professional baseball player with an estimated net worth of $8 million. Willie Mays played in Major League Baseball from 1951 to 1973, principally with the New York/San Francisco Giants.
He is regarded as one of the best baseball players of all time, having earned 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards and helping the Giants win the World Series in 1954. Mays finished his playing career with the New York Mets, retiring after the team lost the 1973 World Series.
Who is Willie Mays?
Willie Mays Jr. was born on May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama, to Annie and Cat. His parents were both sports, with his mother being a high school basketball and track star and his father playing baseball for the local iron plant’s black team. Mays’ parents separated when he was three, and he was raised by his father and aunts. He attended Fairfield Industrial High School, where he participated in a variety of sports such as football and basketball.
How old is Willie Mays?
He is currently 92 years old.
What is Willie Mays’s net worth?
He is estimated to be worth $8 Million.
What is Willie Mays’s career?
In the summer of 1948, while still in high school, Mays began playing professional baseball for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos, a Negro minor league team. He soon joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, where he competed in the 1948 Negro World Series. In the tournament, the Homestead Grays defeated the Barons.
Several MLB organizations expressed interest in signing Mays during this period, but they had to wait until he graduated from high school. After graduating, he was signed by the New York Giants. Mays later played minor league baseball with the Interstate League’s Class B Trenton Giants and the American Association’s Class AAA Minneapolis Millers.
Mays was called up to the Giants in May 1951. On May 28, his 13th at-bat in the MLB, he blasted his first career home run. Mays concluded the regular season hitting 274 with 20 home runs and 68 RBIs was good enough for National League Rookie of the Year honors.
He and the Giants advanced to the 1951 World Series, where they lost to the New York Yankees. After the season, Mays was recruited into the United States Army during the Korean War. He spent the opening few weeks of the 1952 season with the Giants before moving to Fort Eustis, Virginia, where he spent most of his time playing for military baseball teams.
His 1954 season was one of his best, as he earned the NL MVP Award and the Hickok Belt on the way to a World Series championship. In Game 1 of the World Series, Mays made an over-the-shoulder running catch that would go down as one of baseball’s greatest plays.
In 1955, Mays led the league with 51 home runs. The following season, he blasted 36 home runs and stole a career-high 40 bases, becoming the second player to reach 30-30. Mays earned the first Gold Glove Award in 1957, and he went on to win 12 more.
Following the 1957 season, the Giants opted to relocate to San Francisco due to declining attendance and the need for a new ballpark. During the team’s final home game at the Polo Grounds in New York, supporters gave Mays a standing ovation in the middle of his final at-bat.
In 1959, Mays signed a $75,000 contract in San Francisco, making him the highest-paid baseball player. That year, he hit 313 with 34 home runs and 113 RBIs, leading the league in stolen bases for the fourth consecutive year.
In 1960, the Giants relocated to the new Candlestick Park, which Mays found challenging to navigate because of its unpredictable winds. Despite hitting only 29 home runs that season, he led the National League with 190 hits. The next season, he hit 40 home runs and batted 308.
In 1962, Mays led the Giants in eight offensive categories, making it their finest season in San Francisco yet. The Giants progressed to the World Series, where they would once again face the Yankees.
Finally, the Yankees won the championship in seven games. In 1963, Mays signed a contract with the Giants for a record-breaking $105,000 per season. He finished the season batting.314 with 38 home runs and 103 RBI.
Source: www.ghgossip.com
