San Francisco, Calif. (95.7 The Game/WGR Sports Radio 550) - The "Say Hey Kid" is no longer with us.
Baseball legend and Hall-of-Famer Willie Mays has died at the age of 93, as announced by the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.
The news came Tuesday from the Giants' broadcast in the middle of the team's matchup with the Chicago Cubs. It was broadcast Jon Miller who broke the news, saying that Mays "passed away peacefully this afternoon."
"My father has passed away peacefully among loved ones," said Michael Mays, Willie's son, in the statement on Tuesday. "I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him through the years. You have been his life's blood."
Mays' career began with the Giants in New York in 1951. He spent 21 years with the organization - his career interrupted in 1953 for military service - and finished with the majority of his final two years played for the New York Mets.
In Mays' unparalleled career, he accrued 3,293 hits, 660 home runs, 1,909 RBIs, 2,068 runs and 368 steals with a lifetime .301 batting average. He was a two-time MVP, Rookie of the Year, a 24-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glover and a World Series champion in 1954.
He is, arguably, the most complete baseball player of all time.
Mays began his career with the Birmingham Black Barons in Alabama when he was 16-years-old.
The Giants will play the St. Louis Cardinals on June 20 in Birmingham at the same Rickwood Field, where Mays began his career. The already poignant, emotional site and homage to the Negro Leagues will take on an even weightier sentiment with Mays' passing.