R.I.P. Willie. Not only my favorite baseball player but my favorite athlete. The best all-around player in MLB history.

Goodbye Willie. Thanks for the memories! I was in the left field bleachers with my family when you hit #3,000. God's outfield is now complete.

Rest in Peace Willie! I was born in 1954 and my dad was a NY Giants fan for almost 40 yrs. When I was born he dubbed me a Giants fan. As such I was regaled with Willie Mays stories. When Mays came to play at Shay we were there. In '62 we rooted for Willie & the Giants against the Yanks. Hey Willie, thanks for the memories and Say Hey! to my dad when you see him.

I'm 64 and from San Francisco and Willie was my childhood hero. Willie would be well over 720 Homer's if he didn't play in homerun eating barns like Candlestick and lose 2 years to the Army.

My father took me to the Polo grounds twice. Once to see Willie, and once to see Sandy Koufax. I was a Yankee fan, dad was not. When talking about another player, he would always say “he’s a good player, but he’s not Willie.” I went with two buddies, fast forwarding to Willie’s first game as a Met. It was on Mother’s Day, a bit drizzly, but an electric crowd. If I remember correctly, he walked and scored first time up, struck out second time, third time up hits a home run and Shea went crazy. Still an unforgettable day for me. God bless the great Willie Mays.

In 1957 my dad took me, by New York Central train, from Rochester to NYC. He said he wanted me to see the greatest player I will ever see before he left for the west coast. There ,in the Polo Grounds, I first saw Willie Mays. My dad remains correct. Over the next 63 seasons I’ve never seen anyone as good.

As a 60 something from Alabama, Willie Mays was my absolute hero from my adolescence to this very day. I met him one day in the early 1980's in Birmingham one day in a business. I just looked at him in silent awe, he looked at me and gave me a nod and a grin. I had gooseflesh. Willie Mays is still the best, Willie is still my hero.

Willie Mays was my boyhood sports idol. I am 69 years old.

I remember the swirling wind blown hot dog wrappers on the field of Candlestick Park. I remember that sometimes the crowd in one half of the stadium were in coats, while in the other half fans were in light wear or even no shirt at all. I remember that special feeling walking from the parking lot to the stadium on a beautiful sunny afternoon. The smells. The sounds. But most of all, I remember Willie Mays. God Bless Willie Mays.

What a life!! Thank you, WILLIE MAYS for doing your part to help tame mankind with your gift, talent, grace and to help level baseball's playing field. You will always be beyond what we know as an icon. Your legacy is sealed and cannot be undone.

Happy 90th Birthday Mr. Mays! Greatest player anybody living and not blind has ever seen, footage included!

My dad grew up watching Willie Mays play live. He even went to the 1962 World Series!!! For me Willie Mays is the greatest baseballer ever

Williie Mays is the best baseball player period. Throw, hit, run, catch. No one did it better

In the late 1960s, we would leave Portland, OR at 7am for a 7pm game at Candlestick. Driving 12 hours for a chance to see Willie Mays play was well worth it.

I am a baseball fanatic St Louis on 56 years old Mr Willie Mays make me proud to be a black man

I like listening to old timers talk about old time baseball, they all put extra juice into their stories... LOVE IT!!! 😂

Had to come here after the passing of Willie Mays. The greatest ever. A true GIANT. Rest in peace legend. A true hero.

Rise In Paradise, King Willie... from the moment I learned about baseball, Willie Mays was my favorite baseball player, and still is today (2024). He was a living legend in my eyes. I think it's fair to say that he is THE G.O.A.T. 🐐

I was born in 1960 a little too late but still got to follow Willie's career in the daily box scores after school..First thing I would do when I got off the bus,run straight to the paper box,grab the sports page & my after school snack then open up to the box scores to see what Willie did the night before..My favorite player of all time..

Ted Williams: "If there was someone born to play baseball, it was Willie Mays."

Willy's skills was so impeccable he made the game look so easy

My dad was a NY Giant fan so i grew up being a Giant fan in the mid 60s i loved Willie Mays i watched the Giants games alot McCovey Alou Cepeda Bonds Marichal loved the games Willie best centerfielder RIP

If you don’t love this game, you just don’t understand. Willie was the MAN !!! Still is one of the greatest. ❤️

No question..... The most complete player to ever play the game

Don’t forget almost two full seasons away for service in the Army, alongside a career at Candlestick, as two major factors that decreased Willie’s career stats.

I remember my first time to a major league park, Candlestick in 1968. I was watching Mays the whole time.

If Koufax says Willie best, he is the best player.

When Willie hit 4 Home Runs in one game he was on deck when Jim Davenport grounded out for the game ending out.

I met Willie in the 70's When he played with the Mets at Wriggley Field in Chiargo What a great guy to talk to really liked talking to his Fans etc.

I lived in central California from 1963 to 1971. Willie Mays was 32 to 40 during those years. I never saw a better player..and I've been a huge baseball fan for 60 years. He made everything look so smooth and easy.

As a dominican there should be a lot more of us watching this legend

All I can say is that I was fortunate to watch Willie play at candlestick Park. Every year when I was a kid, my dad would take a group of 4Hers to San Francisco.

Willie Mays was the best ballplayer I ever saw. If he'd of hit in Atlanta where Henry Aaron hit, he'd of had 1000 home runs!!

Happy Happy Birthday to the Say Hey Kid! You were the greatest!

It was 1955. I was 11 years old. I was a Yankee fan, Mickey Mantle my favorite, how could it be otherwise, but was acutely aware of both Brooklyn’s Duke Snider and the Giants Willie Mays. I identified with both Mickey and Willie, as I played both shortstop and centerfield. Mays had become famous for his 1954 catch against the Cleveland Indians Vic Wertz in game 1 of the 1954 World Series. In the Spring of 1955, our 5th grade teacher took our class in a school bus to the Polo Grounds to watch the Giants play the St. Louis Cardinals, whose Hall-of-Fame first baseman, Stan Musial was still playing. We arrived an hour before the game and were seated on the third base side while the Giants were still taking batting practice. Mays was positioned in the outfield with some of his teammates leisurely catching fungoes hit by a Giants coach. He was standing in deep centerfield next to a teammate when the Giants coach hit one high in the air. Mays heard the distinctive sound and gave a momentary glance to the ball’s trajectory. He returned his gaze to his Giant’s teammate and simultaneously took three horizontal steps to the right, still engaging his teammate in conversation. Seconds passed. Then Mays took another momentary glance at the descending ball, put his hands behind his back, bent over and caught the ball in a reverse basket catch behind his back. I was stunned. The visual/mental computer in his brain had calculated precisely where the ball was going to land within fractions of a second of its launch. It was almost magical, and I recognized, perhaps for the first time, that there are rare gifts some people possess who we, mere mortals, do not. One can only marvel at those that have been so blessed.

My hero. There isn't a day that goes by where I wish I was old enough to see this true living legend play

I was lucky enough to grow up in his neighborhood in Florida. My Dad was absolutely in AWE of him and told me he was the best ever. Being a little kid, it didn't really register I lived in the same street as a legend. All I remember is how incredibly kind he was.

He's my Uncle 🙂🙃😆😁And I'm Proud

Happy 90th Birthday, Mr. Mays! WE LOVE YOU, WILLIE!!!!!!

In the 1960’s I was a young happy boy, no money pressures, no women pressures, no boss pressures, I would wake up and look for the newspaper to see how Willie performed had done the night before he seldom let me down. Happiest time in my life as I also was a best player in my town when I was young. As a white male, I gave my last son’s middle name, Willie. It was the happiest time of my life. Over the last 60 years I have thought day dreamed about Willie virtually every day of my life. God bless Willie Mays immortal soul.

He wasn't just a great player: he was a great entertainer.

after all these years. I still smile, ear to ear, when watching highlights of Willie's career. I was 11 yrs old when they moved away from NY. Stayed as a Giant fan until he left SF. Greatest player of my generation.

My Dad being from Birmingham and then coming to NY,Willie was his favorite player and I wanted to play like him

I was a seven year old growing up in the Bay Area, listening on KSFO radio July 2, 1963, the night Willie ended a 0-O pitching gem by homering off Warren Spahn in the bottom of the 16th inning. (That was Spahn’s 263rd pitch of the night...if you’re curious.) No man in ML history has done that-hit at least one HR in extra innings, 10th thru the 16th. A tribute to his longevity and unmatched talent. Happy 87, Willie! If my votes registers anywhere, you’re the best to ever do it.

RIP my friend you were one of the GREATEST to ever play this game. Your Field of Dreams is all ready for you center field is calling for you your teammates can't wait for your first at bat so SAY HEY Willie enjoy the game you loved so much on earth and gave us fans so much joy and memories. Now you can show God why you were one of the greatest to ever play the game

Saw him in the outfield directing the position of the other two outfielders. They weren't taking direction from their coaches. They were taking it from Mays. He may or may not be the greatest player but he is definitely the smartest.

The first MLB game I ever attended featured Willie Mays with the San Francisco Giants at Candlestick Park in 1970. I've attended hundreds of games (including World Series games) since then but that one ranks as one of the most special.

I can't even imagine Baseball without Willie. My favorite player, the best of all. One guy told me that AROD was the best player, I told him, Arod is on the bench and might get an at bat here and there.

My favorite all time athlete. I saw him play and was amazed. Being a Giants fan watching him play he seemed to be on another level! No one today compares to him. RIP my friend.

Willie broke my father's heart in '54. Talking about that WS years later, my dad, a lifelong Cleveland fan, would always speak in awe about Willie. There was no one who didn't respect him, teammate or opponent. Best there ever was.

I used to marvel at the opportunity to see Willie on TV Saturday afternoon. Everything he did and all of his mannerisms including how he would address the pitcher when he stepped into the batters box were the trademarks that he emblazoned upon the game. He was beyond a doubt the most feared hitter that all pitchers knew and thought of. Willie Mays will always in my mind be unparralelled in any era of our nations passtime. Long Live the Great One. Long Live Willie Mays.

simply he was the best all around ballplayer of all time. and a great athlete,tremendous inspiration to untold millions of young people, a great credit to the game, and american life....

I love the game presently, I love the game's past. I'm a National League "boy" through and through from New York. My wife's grandfather who is still with us grew up a Yankee fan. He saw the great ones from the 30's on up. He caddied for Babe Ruth in the late 30's or early 40's in Queens, New York two times as a working teen. He's always told me that Mays was the greatest he saw. To me that's good enough. Mays is always my answer to the greatest all-around player to ever play the game.

I'm 64 grew up in have de grace MD a orioles fan my hero Brooks Robinson ,but the greatest of all Willie may's hands down thanks Willie you were the best.

Baseball is my passion, Willie Mays my hero - thanks for this excellent video!

I love when Johnny Roseboro said “Watch him take off like a big ass bird from first base” lol makes it even funnier because he wasn’t joking

September 16, 2018: Willie, you played the game with heart.....fantastic!

Robinson Cano should take #24 off and give Willie Mays back to New York

I grew up watching the greatest baseball players of the 1960s : Mays, Mantle and Frank Robinson. There hasn't been anybody anywhere close to these guys since.

The intros to these Sports Century videos gives me chills before the damn thing actually starts!

This is one of if not the greatest episode in one of the greatest sports docuseries ever produced in the last 50+years!! RIP Willie Mays!! "Where triples go to die!"

Let's not forget wen that catch was made he was almost 500 feet away from home plate his throwback to Second base was perfect one-hop. Amazing and unbelievable to this day

I watched Mays play growing up. He was my hero. I kept a scrapbook on him., watched him play on TV many times. He moved differently than any other player.... even the way he walked. He swung so hard some times that if he missed the ball the momentum of the bat would almost knock him off his feet and drag him around so he'd be facing the crowd behind the plate. Elegant in the outfield. The greatest ever,

Willie Mays IS the greatest baseball player of all time.

Willie Mays got the first hit of the 1973 World Series. He also drove in the go ahead run for the Mets in Game 2....and later scored an additional run in that same inning. Days before, Willie singled and drove in a run against the Cincinnati Reds in Game 5 of the NLCS. He also caught a fly ball in CF.

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Great job putting this all together. By far the BEST video I've viewed on The Say Hey Kid. RIP Willie.

And with good reason. He is the greatest baseball player of all-time.

One of my first childhood heroes. Man I loved to watch that guy play baseball.

Say Hey Kid..What a Man indeed...👍👍👏👏🇺🇸🙏🇺🇸

As a kid, he made the hair stand up on my neck........greatest of all time..? I don't know but god, he was right up there with the greats.

For me, watching Willie Mays was like Richie Cunningham looking up to "The Fonz". He just had that kind of impact on me as a baseball fan. One of my biggest thrills was watching WIllie play against the Montreal Expos on July 1, 1972 at Jarry Park in Montreal. Sometimes, it is GOOD to be old!

Hands down, the greatest of all time!

A little bit of Willie Mays lore...for most San Franciscans...listening to Lon Simmons on the radio while at work was how we checked out the Giants. I am not sure you can say the following about any other outfielder that ever played the game...but...when Lon Simmons said there was a drive into center...there was no longer any doubt about that ball being caught because the greatest centerfielder on this planet or on any planet was soon tapping his glove and that was that....

This is what makes baseball the greatest sport of all time. Comments can be totally different opinions and at the same time both be right.

Funny how the portrayal of Willie's years with the Mets differs from my youthful recollection. I was so happy we had him that I probably ignored his declining skills. The late 60's and early 70's were a great time to become a baseball fan. I caught some of the all-time greats on their way out-- Banks, Aaron, Mays, McCovey, Frank Robinson, Killebrew, Billy Williams, Kaline and on and on.

I remember watching him play on TV at the end of his career. Even then, nearing 40, he was the best player on the field.

THANK YOU MR.MAYS FOR YOUR STORY OF STRENGTH AND COURAGE DURING TRYING TIMES.

Happy Happy 90th Birthday Willie Mays! You were one of the best who ever played the game! God Bless You!!!

ESPN did a great job with this Sports Century series

Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player of all time. Sometimes overlooked is his throwing arm, Ted Williams is quoted as saying "Willie Mays has the greatest throwing arm I have ever seen".

I am so glad I got to see him play in the last years of his career and not just in newsreels!

And the most Under rated greatest that ever lived!! Stops smiles Signed autos in front of his building, always smiling ..God Bless You Mr Mays

Greatest all-around ballplayer of all time, hands down. According to this film, Dimaggio, Williams, and Koufax all agree. Take their word for it.

Happy 89th Birthday to The aMays'n "Say Hey Kid" also known as "WILLIE HOWARD"... He could RUN, CATCH, THROW, HIT FOR AVERAGE & HIT FOR POWER!!!!!

He was the best..... most incredible player that I ever saw......

The best there ever was - and the best there ever will be. The Say Hey Kid was like nothing else. Rest In Peace, Willie!

Amazing watch we love you Willie Mays...✌️🤗👍⚾🇺🇸🗽💪...

RIP Say Hey Willie… the best 5 tool player of all time

Simply, the greatest to EVER play the game. RIP #24

I had the privilege of watching Willie Mays play during his breakout MVP 1954 season,including "the catch."He would subsequently win another MVP Award 11 years later.How "amazin" is that?

I was at Wrigley Field when I first saw Willie Mays. The Cubs' Tony Taylor was on first when Dale Long hit a line drive to center field. The ball was heading for the ivy on the top of the brick wall when Willie ran at the wall, jumped up onto that wall, stuck his spikes into the ivy and launched himself into the air. He grabbed the ball and turned while in the air, landed on one foot and fired the ball to first base where he doubled off Tony Taylor. The ball never bounced but hit the first baseman's glove like a rocket. The crowd was stunned and a great silence hung over the ball park. When Willie stepped into the batter's box he launched a bomb that sailed over the wall and was lost on the street. I've never seen anyone like him. You can promote Joe DiMaggio, Mickey Mantle, Ken Griffey Jr. or anyone else as the greatest outfielder. The man was the best ballplayer of all time. Period.

almost every great player of willie's era said he is the best they ever saw, mantle, dimaggio, durocher to name three. willie could play every facet of the game at the very highest level, you simple can't argue with that.

At 66 years old and he has been and still is my hero. From the first time I seen him on television at 9 years old until I met him in person in 1996 in Balley's casino where I was a electrician. The biggest thrill in my life. Willie Mays is and always will be the best that ever played the game. I walked and talked with him and shook his hand, the only thing I asked for was to hear him say....Say Hey, witch he did happily. The biggest hand I have ever seen.

Willie would be my first pick on any team/god bless you Mr Mays....

Mays + Griffey + Mantle +Ruth + Williams+ Aaron = THE GREATEST OF ALL TIME IN MY OPINION

As a life long Dodgers fan......l admit it, Willie Mays is the greatest baseball player of all time..He has no peer, no one close...

One of my earliest memories. I was 4-1/2 yrs old. SF 3, St.L 2. Mays homered. 5/31/61

Willie, happy belated 93rd birthday. The greatest all-around player in baseball history. He could hit, hit for power, run, filed and throw.

4 HRS in 1 game.4/30/61 in Milwaukee. You rock Willie!!!😀

Willie Mays was the best all-around player ever. He had it all as good as anyone else!