Baseball legend Willie Mays, all-around great of America’s pastime, dead at 93

Willie Mays played 23 seasons for the New York Giants, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, from 1951 through 1973. (AP)
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Updated 19 June 2024
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Baseball legend Willie Mays, all-around great of America’s pastime, dead at 93

  • Willie Mays was the epitome of what came to be known as a ‘five-tool player’
  • He was exceptional at hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, throwing and baserunning

 

Mays was the epitome of what came to be known as a “five-tool player” — meaning he was exceptional at hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, throwing and baserunning

His snag of a fly ball in the 1954 World Series, sprinting with his back toward home plate some 460 feet away, is known simply as The Catch

Mays was ranked second on The Sporting News’ 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players — behind Babe Ruth and ahead of Ty Cobb

REUTERS: Willie Mays, the Hall of Fame centerfielder whose all-around skills made him one of greatest baseball players of all time, died on Tuesday at the age of 93, Major League Baseball announced.

Mays, who brought an explosive exuberance to the game in his peak years, died of heart failure, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Mays played 23 seasons for the New York Giants, San Francisco Giants and New York Mets, from 1951 through 1973.

In his prime, he could do it all on the baseball field. Mays was the epitome of what came to be known as a “five-tool player” — meaning he was exceptional at hitting for average, hitting for power, fielding, throwing and baserunning.

But Mays’ talent was only part of what made him a superstar. He also played with a verve and passion that were discernible even to spectators in the cheap seats. He was known for playing stickball with kids on the streets of Harlem, near the former Polo Grounds where he played.

In the real games, fans delighted when Mays would sprint with such speed and fury that he would run out from under his hat as he stole a base or chased down a flyball to deep centerfield.

His snag of a fly ball in the 1954 World Series, sprinting with his back toward home plate some 460 feet away, is known simply as The Catch.

“He could do everything and do it better than anyone else, (and) with a joyous grace,” wrote New York Times sports columnist Arthur Daley.

Mays, known as “The Say Hey Kid” because of his standard greeting, was ranked second on The Sporting News’ 1998 list of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players — behind Babe Ruth and ahead of Ty Cobb.

Baseball-Reference.com ranks him fifth all time using the modern statistic Wins Above Replacement, which measures a player’s overall value, behind Ruth, pitchers Walter Johnson and Cy Young, and his godson Barry Bonds.

Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility, won the Most Valuable Player award twice and was named to the all-star team 24 times, a record shared only with Hank Aaron and Stan Musial.

When he retired, Mays held third place on the all-time home run list with 660, behind Aaron at 755 and Ruth with 714. He was also the first ballplayer to hit 300 homers and steal 300 bases.

Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born in the gritty steel town of Westfield, Alabama, on May 6, 1931, during the segregation era and was inspired early to play ball by his father and an uncle, he said.

“My uncle would say every day, ‘You’re going to be a baseball player. You’re going to be a baseball player, and we’re gonna see to that,’” he said. “At 10, I was playing against 18-year-old guys. At 15, I was playing professional ball with the Birmingham Black Barons, so I really came very quickly in all sports.”

Mays joined the New York Giants of the National League early in the 1951 season, four years after Jackie Robinson had integrated Major League Baseball. He failed to get a hit in his first 12 trips to the plate before smacking his first, a home run off future Hall of Fame pitcher Warren Spahn.

Mays went on to win Rookie of the Year honors in 1951 with a .274 average, helping the Giants come from 13 games behind the Brooklyn Dodgers before his team won the pennant on a legendary home run by Bobby Thomson. Mays, then 20 years old, was on deck when Thomson hit his home run, later telling reporters he was so nervous he prayed he would not come to bat.

Mays missed most of the 1952 season and all of 1953 while serving in the US Army during the Korean War, spending much of his service time playing for the Army baseball team.

He returned to the Giants in 1954 and won the first of his two Most Valuable Player awards as he paced the Giants to a four-game World Series sweep of the Cleveland Indians. In the first game of that series, Mays pulled off The Catch, which remains one of the most memorable plays in baseball history.

At New York’s Polo Grounds, the Indians’ Vic Wertz hit a shot to deep centerfield. Mays turned, sprinted toward the wall, made a graceful over-the-shoulder catch and then immediately whirled around and made a perfect throw that kept two Cleveland baserunners from advancing.

“I was a guy, when I first came up, I believed I could catch any ball that stayed in the ballpark,” Mays told an interviewer years later. “I guess I was kind of a cocky kid, knowing that if the ball went up, I could catch it.”

In 1958, the Giants moved to San Francisco, where Mays was not quite so beloved. Fans crowding into tiny Seals Stadium, the Giants’ first home, instead embraced rookie sensations Orlando Cepeda and Willie McCovey as their own.

“Mays never was to San Francisco what he was to New York,” wrote sportswriter Dick Young. “When the Giants moved to California, the San Francisco fans saw Mays as ‘of’ New York.”

The Giants moved into cavernous and windy Candlestick Park in 1960, robbing Mays of many home runs that would have gone out in a more typical ballpark.

But Mays still possessed extraordinary skills and in 1962, carried the Giants to another playoff win over the Dodgers and into the World Series.

The series was a seven-game spellbinder won by the New York Yankees when Bobby Richardson speared a line drive for the final out of the game with Mays on second base, representing what would have been the winning run.

By the late 1960s, Mays was slowing down. In May 1972, he was traded to the New York Mets and made a final World Series appearance in 1973, his last season, when the Mets lost to the Oakland Athletics in seven games. He retired later that year.

In his book “Willie’s Time,” baseball writer and historian Charles Einstein wrote:

“The lights were hot and the cameras rolled and you knew Willie was there because you heard that laugh. Came The Automatic Question: ‘Who was the greatest player you ever saw?’ His answer was prompt enough: ‘I thought I was.’ There was merriment in his eyes as he looked around the room. ‘I hope I didn’t say that wrong.’”


Pistons top Timberwolves despite Edwards’s 53 points

Updated 48 min 37 sec ago
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Pistons top Timberwolves despite Edwards’s 53 points

  • In San Antonio, Nikola Jokic scored 46 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Denver Nuggets to beat the Spurs
  • The Golden State Warriors shook off the absence of superstar Stephen Curry to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-113

LOS ANGELES, United States: Cade Cunningham scored 40 points to lead the Detroit Pistons, who withstood a career-high 53 points by Anthony Edwards to beat the Minnesota Timberwolves 119-105 on Saturday.
Edwards, who had voiced frustration after averaging just 16.3 points over the last three games in the face of strong double team defense, found plenty of ways to score.
He connected on 16 of his 31 shots from the field, including 10 of 15 from three-point range, and made 11 of his 12 free-throw attempts.
But he had little scoring support and the Timberwolves trailed virtually all the way against a Pistons team powered by Cunningham, who notched his season high in points and added six rebounds and nine assists.
Unlike Edwards, Cunningham had plenty of support. Malik Beasley added 23 points off the bench for the Pistons, Tobias Harris scored 16 points and grabbed 11 rebounds and Ausar Thompson finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and six steals.
In San Antonio, Nikola Jokic scored 46 points and pulled down 10 rebounds for the Denver Nuggets, who spoiled Victor Wembanyama’s 21st birthday with a 122-111 overtime victory over the Spurs.
Wembanyama scored 20 points and grabbed 23 rebounds with three assists and four blocked shots.
But the French star — whose late-game heroics sealed the Spurs’ win over the Nuggets in Denver on Friday — was scoreless in overtime.
Harrison Barnes scored 22 points for San Antonio and Devin Vassell added 19. Vassell tied it at 108-108 with a put-back basket with 14 seconds left in regulation.
Jokic missed a potential game-winner but dominated with nine points in the extra session, when the Nuggets out-scored the Spurs 14-3 to pull away.
The Serbian star, who claimed a third NBA Most Valuable Player award last season, added 10 assists, two steals and a pair of blocked shots.
In Brooklyn, Joel Embiid scored 28 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to power the Philadelphia 76ers in a 123-94 victory over the short-handed Nets.
Tyrese Maxey finished with 18 points while Paul George and Caleb Martin scored 17 apiece for the Sixers, who led by 64-47 at halftime.
The Portland Trail Blazers, led by 28 points from Anfernee Simons, snatched a 105-102 victory over the Bucks in Milwaukee.
Simons came through in the clutch, converting a three-point play with 23.5 seconds left to put the Trail Blazers up by one.
After former Blazer Damian Lillard turned the ball over Simons made a pair of free-throws with 5.4 to play to seal the win.
Giannis Antetokounmpo led Milwaukee with 31 points and 11 rebounds. Lillard scored 16 but missed a potential game-tying three-pointer in the final second.
The Golden State Warriors, fueled by 24 points from Andrew Wiggins and 17 from Dennis Schroder, shook off the absence of superstar Stephen Curry to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 121-113.
With Curry resting because of knee tendinitis, the Warriors saw Jonathan Kuminga depart with a sprained right ankle late in the first half.
The close game got testy late, with Golden State star Draymond Green assessed a flagrant foul and a technical foul in the fourth quarter.
In Chicago, Coby White made nine three-pointers on the way to 33 points and Nikola Vucevic added 22 points and 12 rebounds for the Bulls in a 139-126 victory over the New York Knicks.
Karl-Anthony Towns scored 44 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and Jalen Brunson added 33 for the Knicks, but New York dropped their second straight a day after the Oklahoma City Thunder halted their nine-game winning streak.
It was an emotional night for the Bulls, who honored Derrick Rose at halftime — three months after the former NBA MVP and Bulls star announced his retirement.


Naomi Osaka retires injured from Auckland Classic final

Updated 05 January 2025
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Naomi Osaka retires injured from Auckland Classic final

  • Four-time Grand Slam champion called for the physio after taking the opening set 6-4
  • Osaka did not divulge details of what forced her withdrawal in a short courtside interview

AUCKLAND: Naomi Osaka retired from the final of the Auckland Classic with an abdominal injury Sunday, a blow to the Japanese star just a week before the start of the Australian Open.
Playing in her first WTA final for three years, against Denmark’s Clara Tauson, the four-time Grand Slam champion called for the physio after taking the opening set 6-4 and pulled out shortly afterwards.
Osaka’s sudden withdrawal came as a shock after playing with no apparent problem in the 35-minute opening set, unleashing some powerful groundstrokes to break her opponent in the third and fifth games.
At the changeover, the 27-year-old stood and performed a series of stretches during a medical timeout.
After consulting with the trainer she shook the hand of Tauson, who picked up a third career title and her first since 2021.
Osaka didn’t divulge details of what forced her withdrawal in a short courtside interview.
However, in a statement, the WTA said she retired “due to an abdominal injury.”
“I just want to thank everyone for welcoming me to such a beautiful city and I had a lot of fun playing here and I’m really sorry about how it ended,” Osaka said.
“I hope you did enjoy the tennis that we did play and I’m just really grateful to be here.”
It was an anti-climactic finish to the week for Osaka, who was chasing her first title since winning the 2021 Australian Open.
Her most recent final appearance was at the Miami Open the following year, before taking a 15-month break and giving birth to her first child midway through 2023.
She returned to tennis 12 months ago and has climbed to 57th in the world rankings.


Australia win riveting fifth India Test to take series 3-1

Updated 05 January 2025
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Australia win riveting fifth India Test to take series 3-1

  • Australia win Border-Gavaskar series, book place in World Test Championship final
  • Scott Boland takes 10 wickets in match to ensure India’s collapse in both innings 

SYDNEY: Australia clinched a knife-edge fifth Test against India in Sydney by six wickets to seal a riveting series 3-1 Sunday and book their place in the World Test Championship final.

India were dismissed 45 minutes into the morning session of day three for 157, adding just 16 to their overnight 141-6 with the irrepressible Scott Boland ending with 6-45 and 10 wickets for the match.

Set 162 to win, the hosts reached the target before tea against an attack missing injured strike bowler Jasprit Bumrah to regain the Border-Gavaskar trophy for the first time since 2014-15.

Australia lost three wickets before lunch to leave the Test finely-poised, including Steve Smith who agonizingly fell just one short of becoming only the 15th player and fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs.

But Usman Khawaja hit a composed 41 before Travis Head (34 not out) and debutant Beau Webster (39 not out) steered them home.

Victory was enough to ensure they will defend their World Test Championship title in the June final at Lord’s against South Africa.

It culminated a thrilling tour full of twists and turns that saw record crowds and some spectacular individual performances.

The five-Test series witnessed the emergence of exciting young talent in the form of Australian opener Sam Konstas and Indian all-rounder Nitish Kumar Reddy.

At the same time, aging veterans, notably Rohit Sharma, showed that the clock is ticking on their careers.

India won the first match in Perth convincingly before Australia bounced back in the day-night affair at Adelaide.

The rain-hit Brisbane clash ended in a draw before the hosts took all the momentum into Sydney with a pulsating day-five win in Melbourne.

Indian pace spearhead and skipper Bumrah, who has been dealing with a back issue, batted briefly when his team resumed after bowling just one over and leaving the field on Saturday.

But in a huge setback the 31-year-old did not appear again, leaving Mohammed Siraj and Prasidh Krishna to lead the bowling attack, with Virat Kohli in charge.

It appeared to be a difficult run chase on a deteriorating surface offering plenty for the bowlers, but Konstas and Khawaja had other ideas.

They raced to 35 off the first three overs, with teenager Konstas hitting out.

It proved his downfall, unnecessarily lashing at a good length ball from Prasidh only to sky it to Washington Sundar at mid-off, out for 22.

Prasidh then knocked over Marnus Labuschagne for six, caught by Yashasvi Jaiswal at slip, with the same pair removing Smith on four, fending off a rising ball.

Veteran Khawaja, who had a poor series, produced some cracking boundaries on his way to 41, but he mistimed a pull shot off Siraj with wicketkeeper Rishabh Pant collecting the edge.

It gave India a glimmer of hope before Head and Webster took the game away.

India resumed after a counter-attacking 61 from Pant helped build their second-innings lead.

Ravindra Jadeja began on eight and Sundar on six after they dismissed Australia for 181 in reply to their first-innings 185.

Jadeja crunched an early boundary off Pat Cummins, but he was out two balls later, getting a faint nick to wicketkeeper Alex Carey, adding just five to his overnight score.

The Australian skipper struck again to bowl Sundar for 12.

That brought Bumrah to the crease and he could only watch as Siraj edged Boland to Khawaja at slip to give the big Australian his fifth wicket.

Boland, whose line and length were impeccable all series, then bowled Bumrah to end the innings.


Matsuyama maintains one-shot lead over Morikawa on low-scoring day at Sentry

Updated 05 January 2025
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Matsuyama maintains one-shot lead over Morikawa on low-scoring day at Sentry

  • Japan’s Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, got things going with a run of four straight birdies from the third through the sixth
  • Sunday promised to be another Matsuyama-Morikawa duel

 LOS ANGELES: Hideki Matsuyama piled up 11 birdies in an 11-under par 62 on Saturday to set the 54-hole tournament record at 27-under and maintain a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa at The Sentry tournament at Kapalua, Hawaii.

Morikawa also posted a 62, his featuring nine birdies and an eagle.

With the winds that so often buffet the Plantation Course again largely absent, five players posted rounds of 10-under or better.

Matsuyama’s gave him a 54-hole score of 192 — one stroke better than the previous 54-hole tournament record.

Japan’s Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, got things going with a run of four straight birdies from the third through the sixth. He rolled in a 58-foot birdie putt at the par-five ninth to make the turn level with Morikawa.

After birdies at the 10th and 12th he took the lead for good with a three-foot birdie at the 14th. That launched a run of three straight birdies, and Matsuyama kept the momentum with an unlikely par at 17 after his tee shot wound up on the wrong side of the cart path.

He closed with a birdie at the par-five 18th, where he muscled his second shot to the edge of the green and two-putted to maintain his advantage on Morikawa.

“Collin played well and I just kind of followed him, so good day,” said Matsuyama, who is closing in on his 20th professional win and his 11th on the PGA Tour.

Morikawa hit 12 of 15 fairways and every green in regulation. He kept the pressure on Matsuyama all the way, starting with an eight-foot birdie at the fist.

After birdies at the third and fourth he curled in a 26-foot eagle putt at the fifth and was six-under for the day after a birdie at the ninth.

He added birdies at 11 and 12, and another pair at 15 and 16 before closing with a birdie at 18.

“Today was really, really good,” said Morikawa, whose six PGA Tour titles include the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 British Open. “Couple shots out there (were) a little squirrely, but for the most part the irons were center face — knew where they were going.”

His most recent win was the 2023 Zozo Championship in Japan, where he ended a near two-year title drought, and Morikawa was delighted that work he’d put in during the off-season was paying off in the opening tournament of the season.

“It’s nice to have it click together,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re immediately going to finish top 10, top five, have a chance to win. But it’s nice to be able to put it all together and shoot some scores in a tournament setting.”

Sunday promised to be another Matsuyama-Morikawa duel. Belgian Thomas Detry was four shots behind Morikawa after a 65 for 197.

South Korean Im Sungjae carded an impressive 62 to claim solo fourth on 198 while England’s Harry Hall posted a 66 for 199.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler wasn’t among the 60-strong field after hurting his hand in a Christmas Day cooking accident.


Barcelona cruise into Copa del Rey last 16 after another setback to register Olmo

Updated 05 January 2025
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Barcelona cruise into Copa del Rey last 16 after another setback to register Olmo

  • The league and the federation said on Saturday that the players can’t be registered again after already having been dropped because of the missed deadline
  • Atletico Madrid advanced past third-division club Marbella thanks to a 16th-minute winner by Antoine Griezmann

MADRID: Barcelona endured another setback while trying to register Dani Olmo and cruised past fourth-division club Barbastro 4-0 in the Copa del Rey on Saturday.

After the Spanish league and national federation again denied Barcelona’s request to register Olmo and Pau Víctor for the rest of the season, Hansi Flick’s team routed Barbastro in the round of 32. Robert Lewandowski scored twice and Eric García and Pablo Torre added goals.

It was Barcelona’s first win after consecutive losses in La Liga to end last year.

Another setback would have added to the embarrassment of not being able to register Olmo and Victor because of a missed deadline to comply with the league’s financial fair-play rules.

The players were only registered through the end of 2024 and Barcelona failed to reinstate them to the squad because it couldn’t clear enough salary cap space.

Barcelona eventually were able to meet the financial fair-play rules but the league and the federation said on Saturday that the players can’t be registered again after already having been dropped because of the missed deadline.

The club is expected to resort to the courts to try to register the players.

Barcelona eliminated Barbastro at the same stage of the Copa last season.

Saturday’s match was delayed for a few minutes early in the second half after Barbastro player Jaime Ara injured his head in a collision with Barcelona defender Iñigo Martínez. Ara was carried off the field on a stretcher.

Garcia put Barcelona ahead in the 21st minute, Lewandowski scored before and after halftime, and Torre capped the victory in the 56th.

Atletico advance

Atletico Madrid advanced past third-division club Marbella thanks to a 16th-minute winner by Antoine Griezmann.

It was the 13th win in a row for Diego Simeone’s team across all competitions, tying the club’s record.

Sevilla eliminated

Sevilla were ousted by second-division club Almeria 4-1 despite taking the lead five minutes into the match through Isaac Romero.

Marko Milovanovic equalized for Almeria and Luis Suárez scored a hat trick to send the hosts through.

Athletic survive

Defending champion Athletic Bilbao needed penalty kicks to get past fourth-division club Logrones.

Athletic won 4-3 in the shootout after a 0-0 draw in regulation and extra time.

Other results

Osasuna advanced by beating Tenerife 2-1 and Real Betis eliminated Huesca 1-0 thanks to a first-half goal by Isco.