Happy 92nd Birthday Willie Mays!
 

Willie Howard Mays turns 92 today. He is the oldest Hall of Famer.

Below is a picture of Willie in 1951 when he helped form the first all Black outfield with Monte Irvin and Hank Thompson during the World Series. He was just 20 years old at the time.

Let's hear it for Willie!

looking forward to this thread. I only have 1 framed picture of him. So looking forward to all the amazing cards, photos, and memorabelia

Here's a cool, old grouping...

Attachment 570122

-Arguably the greatest player to ever play the game.

Happy Birthday "Say Hey" Kid.
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I love the crowd in the picture. Amazing photo

It's a powerful image, Willie stretching to the height of his ability,
perfectly timed to catch a ball hit from 400 ft away and land in his tiny glove, his arm almost perfectly centered with the young woman's raised arm in triumphant victory, if you study the crowd closely the looks are mainly hesitation, caution, confusion, retreat, except her, she knew Willie had it all the way.
The industrial background of a concrete wall and a steel roll up door. The pure innocent joy on the spectators faces as they watch their hero make another inhuman catch seem routine. The beauty of no color barrier in the cheap seats in 1951, we're all just here to see the greatest ball player in the history of baseball perform his craft on a hot afternoon in New York.

Tell me this isn't the greatest sport ever...

To me, this may be the greatest photo of Willie ever, just something about it, a kid transported from the deep South by virtue of his enormous talent, hanging with the folks in the neighborhood on the streets of New York, doing what he did so uniquely well.

I have to presume you've read Don DeLillo's somewhat fictionalized account of the Shot Heard Round the World game?

Cards. Right.

I haven't but thanks for the reference Peter, I just looked it up and it looks like a fun read.

I did however have a drinking contest with Don Larsen in a bar when I was 20, let's just say he won and I felt like the Brooklyn Dodgers the next morning...

It's available as a free standing piece called Pafko at the Wall, or as the first section of his book Underworld. It's quite brilliant, weaving together various aspects of the game and the fans and the same-day hydrogen bomb test by the Soviet Union and the fate of the home run ball afterwards. Very much in line with your theme of there is no other sport even close to baseball. I'll tease you with a line about the home run, he talks about "the bolt of noise and joy when the ball went in."

Speaking of birthdays or maybe some other festive occasion, here`s a snapshot of what appears to be a young Mays (early 50`s) meeting a young fan. Have some cards but enjoy pieces like this showing players in every day situations. And yes greatest ever, surely an extremely strong case. Happy birthday Sir.
https://live.staticflickr.com/65535/...b202e073_c.jpgNice Wille Mays snapshot, mid 1950`s ? by Hugh Murphy, on Flickr

What a great thread - his Coca Cola card is the perfect summation of his joy for the game