In Memoriam 2024: Willie Mays (1931–2024) Tribute List

Nicknamed the "Say Hey Kid," Willie Mays was the greatest center fielder to play professional baseball and arguably the second greatest player in baseball history. His career spanned four decades from the Negro leagues (late 1940s) to retirement from Major League Baseball in 1973 — mostly with the New York/San Francisco Giants. The consummate "five tool player," he combined speed, strength, grace, and exuberance to amass a record book of extraordinary statistics. Just a few of his lifetime baseball achievements — 660 home runs, .302 batting average, 24-time All-Star, and 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards—illustrates clearly why he was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 in his first year of eligibility, and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999. His lasting impact on the game of baseball, displayed in this tribute list, is chronicled in news and sports articles alike.
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Full list of words from this list:

words only definitions & notes
  1. iconic
    relating to a symbolic figure
    Willie Mays, the iconic and endearing “Say Hey Kid” who charmed countless fans with his brilliant athleticism and graceful style and was widely considered baseball’s greatest and most entertaining player, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 93.
    – San Francisco Chronicle
  2. endearing
    lovable especially in a childlike or naive way
    Willie Mays, the iconic and endearing “Say Hey Kid” who charmed countless fans with his brilliant athleticism and graceful style and was widely considered baseball’s greatest and most entertaining player, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 93.
    – San Francisco Chronicle
  3. graceful
    characterized by beauty of movement, style, or form
    Willie Mays, the iconic and endearing “Say Hey Kid” who charmed countless fans with his brilliant athleticism and graceful style and was widely considered baseball’s greatest and most entertaining player, died Tuesday of heart failure. He was 93.
    – San Francisco Chronicle
  4. integrate
    open up to members of all races and ethnic groups
    Born and raised in Jim Crow-era Alabama, he was part of the initial wave of Black players from the Negro Leagues to integrate Major League Baseball.
    – The White House
  5. superstar
    someone who is dazzlingly skilled in any field
    Mays, who has died aged 93, was the first black superstar of the post-Robinson era of integration, and though arguments persist as to whether he or Mantle was the greatest of the three, or indeed greater than the legendary Ty Cobb, he was inarguably baseball’s most exciting player.
    – The Guardian
  6. exuberance
    joyful enthusiasm
    Mays, who got nicknamed the “Say Hey Kid” because he greeted everyone with “hey”, played the game with exuberance that belied the more serious nature of his path to the big leagues, which required more than just “natural talent”.
    – The Guardian
  7. sprint
    run very fast, usually for a short distance
    In the first game of the 1954 World Series, at New York’s Polo Grounds, his over the shoulder catch of a 425 ft Vic Wertz drive, in which he sprinted the last ten yards without tracking the ball, then spun and returned the ball to the infield before a run could score, is still remembered as “The Catch”.
    – The Guardian
  8. mythological
    based on or told of in traditional stories
    Maybe his famous catch in the 1954 World Series wasn't the greatest catch of all time. Mays himself said he made better plays. But it's the catch everyone still talks about as the greatest ever — 70 years later it remains unsurpassed, a mythological play with video proof that he was worthy of each of his 12 Gold Gloves.
    – ESPN
  9. statistic
    a datum that can be represented numerically
    Mays compiled extraordinary statistics in 22 National League seasons with the Giants in New York and San Francisco and a brief return to New York with the Mets, preceded by a time in the Negro leagues, from 1948-50. He hit 660 career home runs and had 3,293 hits and a .301 career batting average.
    – The New York Times
  10. home run
    (baseball) a base hit on which the batter scores
    He was a two-time NL MVP (1954 and 1965), a 24-time All-Star (he won the All-Star Game MVP in 1963 and 1968) and won 12 Gold Glove Awards in center field. He led the league in home runs four times, stolen bases four times, slugging percentage five times, total bases three times and triples three times.
    – National Baseball Hall of Fame
  11. slug
    strike heavily, especially with the fist or a bat
    He was a two-time NL MVP (1954 and 1965), a 24-time All-Star (he won the All-Star Game MVP in 1963 and 1968) and won 12 Gold Glove Awards in center field. He led the league in home runs four times, stolen bases four times, slugging percentage five times, total bases three times and triples three times.
    – National Baseball Hall of Fame
  12. personify
    attribute human qualities to something
    But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game’s, and America’s, most charismatic figures, a name that even people far afield from the baseball world recognized instantly as a national treasure.
    – The New York Times
  13. effervescent
    marked by high spirits or excitement
    But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game’s, and America’s, most charismatic figures, a name that even people far afield from the baseball world recognized instantly as a national treasure.
    – The New York Times
  14. charismatic
    possessing an extraordinary ability to attract
    But he did more than personify the complete ballplayer. An exuberant style of play and an effervescent personality made Mays one of the game’s, and America’s, most charismatic figures, a name that even people far afield from the baseball world recognized instantly as a national treasure.
    – The New York Times
  15. authentic
    not counterfeit or copied
    "There have been only two authentic geniuses in the world," actress Tallulah Bankhead once said. "Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare."
    – ESPN
  16. cherish
    be fond of
    Asked about career highlights, Mays inevitably mentioned “The Catch,” but also cherished hitting four home runs in a game against the Braves; falling over a canvas fence to make a catch in the minors; and running into a fence in Brooklyn’s Ebbets Field while chasing a bases-loaded drive, knocking himself out, but still holding on to the ball.
    – AP News
  17. unrivaled
    eminent beyond or above comparison
    Remember him as one of the two best players of all time, a man who changed the game, a man with talent that is unrivaled the past 75 years.
    – ESPN
Created on Thu Jun 20 21:14:46 EDT 2024 (updated Mon Jun 24 09:32:21 EDT 2024)

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