Willie Mays

The greatest center fielder of all time has passed at 93. The world is a better place because of Willie Mays.

Say hey. 

Willie Mays was an amazing talent and even more so, a wonderful human being. He will be deeply missed but his accomplishments and grace will endure forever.

He was my hero when I was a five year old baseball nut. I wrote him a letter after seeing him play against the Astros at the Astrodome and got a publicity photo back that had "Best wishes, Willie Mays" printed on it. I was absolutely convinced he had signed it himself.

RIP, sir.

I'm jealous of the older people who got to see him play.  OTOH, experiencing his impact on the world was pretty good, too.

How much an impact did Willie Mays have? Enough for the Mets to hardly ever issue No. 24 to anyone else after Mays played for them, despite his time on the team being in the twilight of his career. The Mets finally officially retired his number in 2022.

The last of the great NY center fielders.

I have to be honest, I was unaware he was still alive.

When I was a kid, whether Mays or McCovey, when Willie came to bat, I knew anything was possible.

One other thing to consider when thinking of how great Willie Mays was. His home stadium was the Polo Grounds for when the Giants were in New York. Its centerfield distance was 505 feet. Today's average is about 400 feet. That's a lot to ground to cover.

Willie Mays Hayes is still with us.

Old_Town said:

The last of the great NY center fielders.

That's an incredible photo!

Mndsm said:

I have to be honest, I was unaware he was still alive.

My first thought as well. 
As a guy who has never been interested in following sports, even I know the name, and how great of a player, and a person he was! That's a very very strong recommendation. 
I sincerely hope his "golden years" brought him all the joy possible. He certainly have so much joy to so many.