Baseball icon Willie Mays, one of the greatest players in the sport’s history and beloved his for dazzling skill and athletic grace, died Tuesday aged 93, his family announced.
Mays’ family confirmed the baseball icon’s passing in a joint statement with his former team the San Francisco Giants.
“My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” son Michael Mays said in the statement.
“I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood.”
Giants chairman Greg Johnson said Mays, the first Black player to captain a Major League Baseball club, had left a mark which extended far beyond his sport.
“Today we have lost a true legend,” Johnson said. “In the pantheon of baseball greats, Willie Mays’ combination of tremendous talent, keen intellect, showmanship, and boundless joy set him apart.
“He had a profound influence not only on the game of baseball, but on the fabric of America. He was an inspiration and a hero who will be forever remembered and deeply missed.”
Major League Baseball commissioner Rob Manfred saluted center-fielder Mays as a star who inspired “generations of players and fans.”
“His incredible achievements and statistics do not begin to describe the awe that came with watching Willie Mays dominate the game in every way imaginable,” Manfred said.
“On behalf of Major League Baseball, I extend my deepest condolences to Willie’s family, his friends across our game, Giants fans everywhere, and his countless admirers across the world.”
Mays retired from baseball in 1973, ending his career with the New York Mets after playing with the Giants from 1951 to 1972.
As well as helping the Giants to the 1954 World Series, he won two Most Valuable Player awards, 11 years apart. He hit 660 home runs, which is sixth on MLB’s all-time list.
A 24-time All-Star he was ushered into baseball’s Hall of Fame in 1979.
In 2015, he was honored with the Presidential Medal of Freedom by US President Barack Obama.
“Willie Mays wasn’t just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power,” Obama wrote on X, formerly Twitter, on Tuesday.
“He was also a wonderfully warm and generous person – and an inspiration to an entire generation.”
