Willie Mays Autographed Picture - 8x10
| |

Willie Mays making a spectacular over-the-shoulder grab of a ball hit to deep to center field & Dusty Rhodes becomes the second player in World Series history to end a game with a homer

ByThis Day in Baseball

In a game which will be best remembered for Willie Mays making a spectacular over-the-shoulder grab of a ball hit to deep to center field, robbing Vic Wertz of an extra-base hit, Dusty Rhodes becomes the second player in World Series history to end a game with a homer. The Giants pinch-hitter’s walk-off three-run home run off Bob Lemon beats the Indians 5-2 in Game 1 of the Fall Classic.

| |

1954 – In a throwing contest between Jimmy Piersall and Willie Mays before a Red Sox-Giants charity game in Boston, Piersall hurts his arm. He starts the game but leaves midway. He wakes up the following morning with a sore arm that stays with him a year, and he will never throw quite as well again.

ByThis Day in Baseball

1954 – In a throwing contest between Jimmy Piersall and Willie Mays before a Red Sox-Giants charity game in Boston, Piersall hurts his arm. He starts the game but leaves midway. He wakes up the following morning with a sore arm that stays with him a year, and he will never throw quite as well again.

Giants OF Dusty Rhodes hits three consecutive home runs at the Polo Grounds to back Johnny Antonelli’s 10 – 0 whipping of St. Louis
|

Giants OF Dusty Rhodes hits three consecutive home runs at the Polo Grounds to back Johnny Antonelli’s 10 – 0 whipping of St. Louis

ByThis Day in Baseball

1954 – Giants OF Dusty Rhodes hits three consecutive home runs at the Polo Grounds to back Johnny Antonelli’s 10 – 0 whipping of St. Louis. It is Antonelli’s 10th consecutive win. Willie Mays smacks his 36th homer, a 447-foot clout to left field.

20-year-old Willie Mays sits in the Minneapolis Millers clubhouse after receiving news that he was being called up to the New York Giants. Mays hit .477 with eight home runs and 30 RBI in 35 games with Minneapolis.
|

Willie Mays homers in his first game back

ByTom

Willie Mays, who missed nearly two seasons due to military service, homers in his first game back, a sixth-inning blast off Carl Erskine that will prove to be the difference in the Giants’ 4-3 Opening Day victory over Brooklyn. The 22 year-old center fielder’s prodigious poke may have traveled over 600 feet if it had not been impeded by the upper left-field stands at the Polo Grounds.

June 2, 1962 - Willie Mays in action as the Giants take on the Mets in a DH at the Polo Grounds.
| |

Pafko hits a walk off for Dodgers – but Willie Mays makes the catch he’ll later call his greatest

ByThis Day in Baseball

Stealing considerable thunder from Brooklyn’s victorious home opener, a 7 – 6, 12-inning triumph, Willie Mays makes the catch he’ll later call his greatest. The Associated Press reports: “Willie Mays, army-bound centerfielder of the New York Giants, astounded an opening day crowd of 31,032 fans at Ebbets Field with a sensational catch of a drive by Bobby Morgan in the 7th inning.” With two out, two on and the Dodgers down by one, “the sophomore star made a diving, sliding catch of a sinking liner near the left centerfield wall that robbed Morgan of a potential triple.” Unfortunately for Mays, Ebbets Field’s Little League dimensions afford little leeway for such hijinks. “I go and catch the ball in the air,” Mays recalls 45 years later. “I’m in the air, like this, parallel. I catch the ball, I hit the fence. Ebbets Field was so short that if you run anywhere you’re going to hit a fence. So I catch the fence, knock myself out.” “As he lay motionless,” reports the New York Times, “players of both sides rushed to his aid. All, that is, but the three Dodgers on the bases, who continued their wild dash for the plate, only to learn Willie had held on to the ball for the third out.” Willie’s impression is that the first player to reach his side has a somewhat less altruistic agenda. “The first guy that I saw – there were two guys – when I open my eyes, was Leo Durocher and Jackie Robinson. And I’m saying to myself, ‘Why is Jackie out here?’ Jackie came to see if I caught the ball, and Leo came to see about me.”

Gil McDougald and Willie Mays win 1951 Rookie of the year
| |

Gil McDougald and Willie Mays win 1951 Rookie of the year

ByThis Day in Baseball

1951 – The Baseball Writers Association of America name Gil McDougald of the New York Yankees as American league Rookie of the Year. The Chicago White Sox object to McDougald’s accolade, offering the statistical accomplishments of their superlative rookie, Minnie Miñoso.

In the opening game of the World Series, the first all-black outfield in major league history makes its appearance

In the opening game of the World Series, the first all-black outfield in major league history makes its appearance

ByThis Day in Baseball

In the opening game of the World Series, the first all-black outfield in major league history makes its appearance when Monte Irvin, Willie Mays, and Hank Thompson take the field for the Giants at Yankee Stadium. Leo Durocher, in a curious move, replaces the previously injured outfielder Don Mueller in right field with Hank Thompson, a third baseman by trade, and uses veteran outfielder Bobby Thomson at the hot corner.

1951 Willie Mays tagged out at the plate by Roy Campanella

Don Mueller hits two more home runs, giving him five in two days, to tie a major league mark

ByBaseball

Don Mueller hits two more home runs, giving him five in two days, to tie a major league mark. His second homer, again off Phil Haugstad, comes a minute after he learns he is a new father. Bobby Thomson adds his 25th homer and Jim Hearn beats the Dodgers, 11 – 2. After Mueller’s second homer, Haugstad decks Thomson and hits Willie Mays with a pitch, evoking a warning from umpire Al Barlick. Barlick had earlier thumbed Ralph Branca and Dick Williams in the 5th inning, Don Newcombe in the 6th when he objected to a call, and Jackie Robinson and rookie Clem Labine. Chuck Dressen then clears his bench to avoid any more thumbings. The Giants move to five games behind Brooklyn.

Willie Mays

The Giants move to an 8 – 1 lead after five inning over the Pirates behind two homers by Willie Mays. But George Spencer wilts in the heat and gives up homers to Frank Thomas – his first in the majors – and pinch hitter Gus Bell. After Pete Castiglione and Bill Rigney match homers, Ralph Kiner powers one in the 9th inning to give Pittsburgh a 10 – 9 victory. For Kiner, it is his 37th.

ByThis Day in Baseball

The Giants move to an 8 – 1 lead after five inning over the Pirates behind two homers by Willie Mays. But George Spencer wilts in the heat and gives up homers to Frank Thomas – his first in the majors – and pinch hitter Gus Bell. After Pete Castiglione and Bill Rigney match homers, Ralph Kiner powers one in the 9th inning to give Pittsburgh a 10 – 9 victory. For Kiner, it is his 37th.

Willie Mays makes a miraculous play in the 8th

Willie Mays makes a miraculous play in the 8th

ByBaseball

Giants P Jim Hearn defeats the Dodgers, 3 – 1, as Willie Mays makes a miraculous play in the 8th. With the score 1 – 1 and Billy Cox on third, Mays makes a running catch of a Carl Furillo drive in deep right center field and whirls counterclockwise to throw out the astonished Cox at home. Wes Westrum’s two-run homer off Ralph Branca in the 8th provides the two-run margin. Hearn allows just six hits, all singles, as the Giants move to 10 1/2 behind Brooklyn.