Say hey! Look who turned 90 today.
Willie Mays may be among the aged ones now, but he’ll always be one for the ages. As baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer and its greatest player since Babe Ruth, Mays predictably had plenty of high-profile help celebrating his landmark birthday Thursday.
In a movement befitting Mays’ place atop baseball royalty, many giants from the sports and even political world used social media to send birthday wishes to the legendary San Francisco Giants star who’s still referred to as “The Say Hey Kid.”
From one GOAT to another, fellow Bay Area star Tom Brady, the NFL’s greatest quarterback ever, saluted Mays while recalling a treasured autograph he received from his role model when he was just a kid.
"You are a great pioneer on the field and off the field, as well." A special birthday shoutout from Bay Area native and @Buccaneers quarterback, @TomBrady. #SayHey90 pic.twitter.com/glQZpoizkm
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) May 6, 2021
“I’m sure you don’t remember, when I was 12 years old I was fortunate enough to meet you at training camp in Arizona and you signed a baseball for me,” Brady said on a video the Giants posted on their Twitter account. “That still sits in my office to this day and it’s one of the great pieces of memorabilia that I had and it’s also a great reminder for me that simple acts of kindness go a very long way.
“You are a great pioneer on the field and off the field as well.”
The Warriors’ Stephen Curry, yet another beloved Bay Area star, also sent a congratulatory birthday message to Mays.
“Happy 90th birthday Willie Mays,” Curry said of Mays, who is three years older than the next-oldest living Hall of Famer, Luis Aparicio. “What a special, special milestone. To give you flowers and celebrate your work on and off the field. You are an icon. You are a legend. You have paved the way for so many who have come after you. And we celebrate you to the fullest.”
Former President Barack Obama thanked Mays for helping blaze a trail that he ultimately used on his way to the White House.
“Happy 90th birthday to Willie Mays! If it wasn’t for folks like Willie and Jackie Robinson, I might never have made it to the White House,” Obama wrote on Twitter. “The spirit he played with and the way he carried himself changed the game and people’s attitudes. I’m glad he’s still going strong.”
Hockey’s “Great One,” Wayne Gretzky, sent birthday wishes Mays’ way, along with a compliment.
“It’s no wonder he has one of the greatest nicknames in all of sports, the ‘Say Hey Kid,” Gretzky said.
Barry Bonds, another legendary Giant and perhaps the only man alive who could make a serious claim to be in Mays’ class on the baseball field, sent a touching message to his Godfather on Twitter.
“Words could never express feelings I have for you so I am going to try and do the best I can on social media. Having you as my Godfather, and really more as a second father, is nothing but a blessing from God,” Bonds wrote. “Happy birthday, Willie … and without writing a book on how much I love you, I will tell you with a big kiss and hug when we are together.”
In addition, Major League Baseball marked the occasion by releasing a video of stars past and present sending their birthday wishes, including Mike Trout, Ken Griffey Jr., Mookie Betts, Cal Ripken Jr. and Buster Posey.
The Giants plan to honor Mays at Friday’s game against the Padres.
Happy 90th birthday to the legendary Willie Mays! pic.twitter.com/TwKGXD7P1S
— MLB (@MLB) May 6, 2021
Thursday’s feting was the kind reserved for the truly elite, which Mays was throughout his star-studded, 22-year career.
From his 3,283 hits, 1,903 runs and 660 home runs, the numbers associated with Mays’ career are truly staggering. Mays was also a 24-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glove Award winner and led the National League in both home runs and stolen bases four times.
Mays won two MVP awards — one as a 23-year-old with the New York Giants in 1954 and another with San Francisco as a 34-year-old in 1965, when he hit .317 with a career-high 52 home runs, 112 RBIs and 118 runs scored. Remarkably, Mays didn’t win a single MVP award from 1955-64, despite batting .315 while averaging 39 homers, 109 RBIs, 118 runs scored and 25 stolen bases per year.
Superlatives are often thrown about while discussing stars of today, but in his day, there really was no overstating the legend of Mays. Though some tried their best.
“You used to think that if the score was 5-0, he’d hit a five-run homer,” Hall of Famer and former A’s star Reggie Jackson once said of Mays.
Another Hall of Famer, former Giant Monte Irvin, said there really was no debating Mays’ talents.
“I think anyone who saw him will tell you that Willie Mays was the greatest player who ever lived,” Irvin once said.
Still, it was difficult to find anyone who admired Mays more than Leo Durocher, his first manager in the major leagues with the Giants in 1951.
“If somebody came up and hit .450, stole 100 bases, and performed a miracle in the field every day, I’d still look you right in the eye and tell you that Willie was better,” Durocher wrote in his autobiography, “Nice Guys Finish Last.” “My definition of Willie Mays walking into a room is chandeliers shaking. And what made him even more appealing was that he didn’t know it.”
Even when Mays wasn’t putting on a show on the field for fans, he found time to make their day in other ways. Ex-A’s pitching great Dave Stewart, who grew up in Oakland, never will forget the impact Mays’ generosity made on him as a youngster. Stewart was just 5 years old when his father took him to Giants Bat Day in 1962. Once there, Stewart got into a hopelessly long line in hopes of getting Mays’ autograph.
“We waited, we waited, we waited … he signed every autograph,” Stewart said on NBC Sports Bay Area. “At the end of three hours, I was the last autograph. And that moment in time stuck with me as a professional. That’s what made it difficult for me to walk past past anybody who was waiting for an autograph. Because of Willie Mays.”
Mays’ greatness is still on display for the millions of fans who’ve entered Oracle Park at 3rd & King over the years. There, Mays’ iconic statue is the centerpiece of the park’s main entrance at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, whose accompanying 24 palm trees serve as a more subtle ode to Mays’ retired uniform number.
And, particularly after a devastating year that included the loss of Hall of Famers such as Hank Aaron, Joe Morgan, Bob Gibson, Tom Seaver, Al Kaline, Whitey Ford and Lou Brock, it’s comforting for baseball fans everywhere to have the greatest, Willie Mays, still in our midst.
That’s something that will never get old.
