Bill Walton, Jerry West, Willie Mays... Rest in Peace to the legends

As a young boy with my father, I saw Willie Mays along with Willie McCovey, Juan Marichal, Bobby Bonds, and other legends play at Candlestick. My father passed five years ago and Willie Mays left us today. Thanks for the wonderful memories.

Tears are falling. My heart is broken. My greatest sports idol is gone. I love you, Willie.

One of the all time greatest baseball players. To think his career started out in the Negro Leagues and played 24 years at the Major league level and made the All-Star team every year proves just how great he was. And he was just an all round great person. Rest in peace Willie! ❤

I hope Pedro understands people hold him in a similar light 🇩🇴🇩🇴🇩🇴🇩🇴

RIP from a die-hard Brooklyn fan. There is no argument. You were the best center fielder of the three. You played in an era of Aaron, Mantle, Musial, Snyder, and Joe. Blessed to have seen you at Ebbets, Dodger Stadium and Candlestick Park. The epitome of class. I tip my blue cap. ❤ ⚾️ 🙏

I'm glad I got a chance to see him play when I was a kid in the 70's

Lord Jesus he was my grandad's favorite baseball player RIP

First time I saw him @Old Tokyo Stadium when SF Giants came to Japan. Rest in peace Willie-san.

He could do it all, and nothing he ever did was done without a style and grace that were his and his alone. Watch him, watch the films, the swing, the basket catches, the throws: words fail, he was the greatest.

My dad taught me so much about baseball and he told me to do what Willie did and you'll do just fine for he is the best ever.

Listening to Costas talk about Willie Mays is great...i could listen to this all day. RIP Legend...

Willie Mays, "The Say Hey Kid", will ALWAYS be ONE OF THE TOP 5 GREATEST BASEBALL LEGENDS IN HISTORY!!! From playing in the Negro Leagues with the Birmingham Black Barons to the San Francisco Giants (winning the Rookie of the Year and the 1954 World Series), and Having arguably the "Greatest Catch" in History and 660 Home Runs!!! Thank you, Willie, for all the great memories!! Rest in Power!!

The greatest all around player in baseball history..Rest in Paradise Willie..

RIP Willie Mays. ❤️ My principal told me he was greater than Ken Griffey Jr, his highlights were ahead of their time.

R.I.P to a legend and the purest baseball player to ever step on the field..

As a Midwesterner, he was my boyhood idle. I wore his # and so did my son. God bless #24.

None greater than the "Say Hey Kid", Willie Mays... one of my favorite ball players as a boy and to this day. He did it all... and like Ernie Banks, Mays had that 😊😁 Prayers for his family, friends, teammates, and fans.....

Saw him with the Mets 73 , in Atlanta, hard to believe I saw him and Aaron in the same game. So grateful for his event. RIP legend

R.I.P. Will be remembered forever ❤😢

It was always magical to me when they would recognize Willie Mays in the stands during games at Candlestick - like a moment out of time where the legends of the past walked among us. That connection with the past was one of the things that hooked me on baseball, but I don't think I knew that until today. Than you Willie for everything, and go Giants!

I've been an A's fan my whole life but I have great respect for the man. True legend. God bless.

Some of the greatest stories from baseball came right from Willie Mays.

A lot of sports hero's dying out recently. O.J. Simpson, Bill Walton, Jerry West, and now Willie Mays.

Not only a 5 tool player but his baseball IQ was second to no other. Simply the greatest. The Great Willie Mays RIP 🙏

RIP to a real legend.

He had so much grace in him. A modest, principled man, and a wonderful ambassador of the game of baseball.

It must have been 1970 or 71 and the Mets were in SF playing the Giants. Mays hit a game winning HR, what today is called a walk off. I got so mad, I went in to my room, took Mays' baseball card a ripped it up! I was 10 YO and the Mets were everything to me! I did see Willie a few years later when he came to the Mets in 73 and cried when he retired.

RIP Willie

Today we lost a LEGEND Rest in Peace

RIP Legend 🙏🏽🕊

Rip Willie ❤

SAY HEY...!!!! HARLEM WORLD. R.I.P THANK YOU FOR '73'

Amazing. RIP Willie Mays.

Rest In Peace 💔Thank you for my memories. I saw him late 60’s, early 70’s at the Stick w the SF Giants. Legend lives forever ⚾️🧡🖤

God bless you, RIP sir, I saw 👀 him play baseball when SF vs. LA .I'll never forget the overhead catch he made 💯 I was 4 years old and as a football player, I pride myself in catching footballs over my head, which has become very common in football since he would do that. He was a fantastic ball player 👏

RIP Willie Mays 🙏🏾

I love the story that Bob Costas shared on a different occasion about the day Bob Gibson showed up to Willie's house ... Gibson was wearing glasses...Costas using a Willie voice, "You wear glasses??? You're gonna kill someone!" RIP Willie... Puerto Rico loves you for playing here in 1954-55 with our beloved Roberto Clemente...QEPD (que en paz descance)

RIP. It was another world back then. Only close to Mays in terms of power, speed, and playing center field was Mantle, but Mantle did not have Mays' longevity.

If Bo Jackson had never gotten injured in football, I really think it would have been 3 Alabama guys in the top 10 as a professional baseball player.

R I P 😢

Rip Willie Howard Mays Jr, you will be missed

RIP Legend

“Say hey, say Willie” one of the greatest from a different generation and any generation for that matter. I was way too young to have been able to see Willie playing live in his hey day, however, I feel lucky to have known about his game from others, the same way I do about someone like Lou Gehrig, and other great legends. RIP, Willie!

1954 the greatest catch ever made. 1961 4 homers in one game. The memorial from Jon Miller our Mark Twain of baseball is superb

RIP to the greatest all around player ever, speed, power,fielding did it all and had a flair for the dramatic. Truly gonna be miss...my condolences to his family.

One of the two greatest all around players ever. Both Giants

Baseball's GOAT 😢

Who wants to live forever. Legends never die!

RIP Willie Mays

My childhood couldn't be any greater knowing that I had Willie and Hank and Roberto to watch and admire it was the greatest generation of baseball players

😢😢😢He considered that he is the most complete baseball player of all time, he was the Michael Jordan of baseball. May this formidable player rest in peace ✌️✌️✌️🥰🥰🥰🥰😢😢👍👍👍👍👍

Wow them stats are mind blowing,R.I.P. Goat Willie Mays.

My dad was not a big pro sports fan. But in 1962 when I was 5 he took me to Candlestick Park for a Giants game. And he pointed out Willie Mays to me, like Bob Costas' dad. Many decades later when I worked at the CA state Capitol I got to shake Willie Mays' hand, he was a frequent visitor during legislative sessions.

Who better to send it to then Costas. He’s a pros pro

Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda ⚾🧢 Legends RIP 🌹

I had the pleasure of meeting Mays at an autograph signing many years ago. Right now Im looking at the baseball that he autographed for me that day. Willie was the man. No question. As kids we would argue who was the better center fielder Mays or Mantle. Thanks Willie for all of the great moments in the greatest sport ever.

RIP Willie !!!!

Mays was the Federer of baseball. Not only did he make it look easy, he often made it look like ballet, like art. When you’re the GOAT and you seem to revel in every moment, that’s Willie.

I’m not the biggest baseball fan but I could listen to Bob Costas talk about baseball all day. Legendary storytelling about a legendary man. Fly High Willie Mays. 🕊️

Rip

In the '71 All-Star Game, at green Tiger Stadium, there was a bedsheet in the center field bleachers that said " Say Hey, Detroit Loves You" .......remember there was slim to no chance of seeing these NL guys live, except on Game of the Week, maybe. Thanks Mr. Mays, rest easy.

San Francisco is hurting right now… rest in peace to an all time great…

Willie Mays Was one of the Greatest Baseball players ever to play the Game ! He Made the Most Amazing Over the shoulder Catches ever ! He was a Clutch Hitter ! He did whatever the team needed ! He could bunt ! He could place a ball all over the field ! You need a Home run ? That was his specialty ! He was a TEAM player ! Wasn’t afraid to teach a rookie What to do ! When I was a Kid in 1963 all kids collected Baseball Topps Baseball cards ! We used to Flip them in Competition against other Kids ! Or Trade them ! The one card You wanted to keep was Wille Mays ! No one would trade that card Infact if they did it would cost you 15 cards to get a Willie Mays maybe ? It’s ashame That All all the GREATS have to die ! I feel I was Blessed to see all the Greatest Athletes Play In the sports I loved ! They Will Live in infamy and will Never be equaled by todays Players they were a Special Breed Of a Special Era !

"Say hey" Willie Mays is gone 😢 RIP Willie? Amen 🙏

1969 Spring Training, the Memorial Stadium in Scottsdale, Giants would be in town for a three day stand with the Cubs. I would go to the Boys Club behind the stadium with my friends and sneek into the park from the right field fense, he would just smile. He was all business, and did not like to be around the cameras, or press. Mornings at the ball park was just kids, and ball players, and it would be hard to tell which he was during that time. Bobby Bonds, Willie McCovey, and Willie Mays in the same outfield was my favorite outfield, Orlando Cepeda at first.

Pedro is wise. Willie was the best player I ever paid to watch. An ambassador for baseball who came up 4 years after Jackie Robinson. Jackie was a civil rights activist. Willie never said a word or lifted a hand in the civil rights debate and battle. Jackie is my hero. Willie is not my hero.

He was so great I can't think of number two that how great he was

One of the all-time greatest players ❤. RIP to the Say Hey Kid Willie Mays 😢💔🕊️🌹🙏🏼.

Growing up in MIles City, Montana in the early 50'-60's I learned of this wonderful human being from my mother who was a huge baseball fan...she loved the Say Hey kid! He and the other men of African descent were Knights of Change and dare I say Grace who we as a country owe a Great Debt of Gratitude for the Differences they made to the tragedy of treatment to minority groups in this country.

You know it's so much more than being a great, if not the GREATEST player of all time. It's sheer reverence. The fact that you can pick literally any HoFer still alive today and they will still wax poetic and be in awe of him. Truly the legend of legends. Let's get The Catch silhouette as the new MLB logo, get that DONE. RIP Say Hey Kid.

amen, bob. and thanks for addressing bonds.

Willie brought happiness to the game.

My dad and I will forever debate bc his GOAT is Willie, mine is Ken Griffey Jr.. RIP Mr. Mays

Rip my man 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭no words just rip and thank you for everything ❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️

They don't make them like Willie Mays talented, honest and kind to the fans.

I saw him play and I got a signature and a handshake from this man rest easy 24

Condolences to the Mays family. Rest in peace Willie. Your legend will live in our hearts FOREVER!❤ THANK YOU!!

In 2020 during pandemic , seven hall of famer passed away.

I really think we shouldn't say "He was the greatest all-around baseball player." That kind of insinuates others might have been better than Willie in a certain area of the game. Willie was the best at everything concerning hitting, running, stealing, playing center, and the combination of power and batting average. If Willie hadn't lost almost 2 years in military service, he might have 740 HRs and his career BA might be .310.

Willie we will always love you as a forever giant🕊️ it's like a piece of MLB Baseball died today😢 on Facebook even the LA Dodgers page made posts about him and there rivals. WE WILL FOREVER LOVE YOU WILLIE 🕊️🕊️🕊️❤️

When a great one of a kind baseball legend like Willie Mays passes on it's a Big Blow to baseball to all his fans around the world to those who knew him Best i'll miss him very much knowing now that he is gone to that great baseball stadium in heaven where all the other great players who have passed on before him await him and just play baseball forever that's an encourging thought that i believe in with this great great man of baseball god bless You Willie You we're a great player respected and admired by many many other baseball players a great Sanfrancisco giant and i was happy that he Was a met briefly and got to play in one last world series before he retired as a met that sure has bought on great memories for me and his legión of fans who watched and followed him thank You for the great memories and the great Moments You achieved and created for you your teamates opposing players who we're there to catch your moment of Glory and for all your fans may you rest in peace ❤😢👍 Love always

Many of these things I’ve heard about him before m. But this is one that gives me chills. Koufax called Willie Mays “the greatest player I’ve ever seen”. That says it all⚾️

Prayers to the Mays family. I just added up how old my Grandparents would be if they were still with us today. Grandpa would be 93-94 and Grandma would have been 89-91 years old.

Amazing, the Great Willie Mays passes away on 6/18 (24)! The greatest of all time. What a loss for us all. My prayers to Willie's family.

The man of baseball Hank Aaron willie Mays babe Ruth and all the greats

He was a 24-time all-star, wore number 24, and passed away in 2024. Only Willie Mays could make 24 have so much meaning. RIP.

Though I was only 2, and don’t remember any of it, my dad had pictures of him and I at Seals Stadium to watch the Giants. Dad, being in the military, would often make the drive to Candlestick, sometimes hours, to watch his beloved Giants whenever we were stationed in California, i.e., Hamilton, Mather and Vandenberg. I was blessed, that he always dragged my ass along. Candlestick Park had that something special aura in the 1960’s. Thus, began my love affair with the Giants, especially Willie Mays. Willie Mays is on my Mount Rushmore of sports icons. I loved, and do love the Say Hey Kid. My dad retired from the military in 1970, and died in 2009. I miss him. God Bless Willie Mays.

❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤❤ willie

My first MLB game was 1969 Reds vs Giants at Crosley Field. Mays and McCovey both went deep. I believe the Giants won 16-9. What a great first MLB game to have.

RIP and Condolences to his family. ✝️

Costas never misses an opportunity to smear Barry Bonds. He just can't help himself 😂😂

We have lost another icon. RIP Mr. Mays🙏🏾⚾

Legend!! Greatest all around player! GOAT!

He was my dad's favorite player. Willie, say hey to my dad.

God bless you and rest in power Willie. 😭

I was lucky to see him play when the giants came to play the Mets we didn't have cable only 9 channels

Man as a long time giant fan, today is incredibly sad day. Looking at those stats I’ve seen them before but what shocked me was the 24 all star selections! That is insane!!!! There are players that don’t even play 15 years! This guy had a longer all star career than 99 percent of the league. RIP GOAT!

A true sports legend

Rest in Peace Willie Mays we will never forget you and your family members. 🙏 ❤️ 💔 💙 😢 😔