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N0KFQ > TODAY 04.05.08 05:30l 57 Lines 2777 Bytes #999 (0) @ WW
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Subj: Today in History - May 4
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To : TODAY@ALLUS
May 4, 1965
Willie Mays breaks National League home run record
On May 4, 1965, San Francisco Giants outfielder Willie Mays hits
his 512th career home run to break Mel Ott’s National League
record for home runs. Mays would finish his career with 660 home
runs, good for third on the all-time list at the time of his
retirement.
Willie Howard Mays was born May 6, 1931, in Westfield, Alabama.
The "Say Hey Kid" learned baseball from his father, who played
semi-professionally with a team from his steel mill. Willie
joined the steel mill team at age 14, and then began his
professional career at 16 with the Birmingham Black Barons of the
Negro Southern League. He played home games for the Barons from
1948 to 1950, skipping road trips during the school year so he
could attend high school. Upon graduation he was signed by the
New York Giants, and made his debut at the Polo Grounds on May
25, 1951. Mays went hitless in his first 12 at-bats, hitting his
first big league homer in his 13th. That season, he was named
Rookie of the Year and helped the Giants to the National League
pennant.
In 1952, Mays was drafted into the Army. The Mays-less Giants
barely missed the pennant in 1952, then felt his absence more
acutely in 1953, when they finished the season with a 70-84
record. Upon his return in 1954, the Giants defeated the
Cleveland Indians to win the World Series, during which Mays made
what many fans consider to be the greatest catch in history. In
Game 1, Indian first baseman Vic Wertz hit a fly ball to deep
center field. Mays turned and ran, then caught the ball over his
shoulder with his back to the infield, spinning and firing the
ball back into the infield to keep the runners from advancing.
When he was later asked about the play, Mays famously replied, "I
don’t rank ‘em, I just catch ‘em."
After more than 20 years with the Giants, first in New York and
then in San Francisco, Mays was acquired by the New York Mets on
May 11, 1972. He spent the next two seasons as a Met under former
Yankee catcher Yogi Berra as manager. The team won the National
League pennant in 1973, though by then, Mays’ skills had eroded,
and he could not catch up to the fastballs he once deposited into
bleachers on both coasts.
In addition to winning the National League MVP in 1954 and 1965,
Mays played in a record 24 All-Star games, winning the All-Star
MVP in 1963 and 1968. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame
in 1979. His base running, power, fielding, ability to hit for
average and outstanding arm in the outfield made him the
prototype "five-tool" player for whom baseball scouts search. Any
argument over who deserves the title "greatest baseball player in
history" has to include Willie Mays.
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