Willie Mays Autographs, Memorabilia & Collectibles
WILLIE MAYS
Born: May 06, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama
Died: June 18, 2024 in Palo Alto, California
Full name Willie Howard Mays
Born May 6, 1931, Westfield, Alabama
First Game: May 25, 1951; Final Game: September 9, 1973
Bat: Right Throw: Right Height: 5' 10.5" Weight: 170
Selected to the Hall of Fame in 1979
Named NL Most Valuable Player by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1954 and 1965)
Named Major League Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1954)
Named NL Player of the Year by The Sporting News (1954 and 1965)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by Baseball Writers' Association of America (1951)
Named NL Rookie of the Year by The Sporting News (1951)
Named All-Star Game Most Valuable Player (1963 and 1968)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News Major League All-Star Team (1954 and 1957 to 1960)
Named outfielder on The Sporting News NL All-Star Team (1961 to 1966)
Won Major League Gold Glove as center fielder (1957)
Won NL Gold Glove as center fielder (1958 to 1960)
Won NL Gold Glove as outfielder (1961 to 1968)
WILLIE MAYS
This article was written by John Saccoman and is presented in part, courtesy of the Society for American Baseball Research
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. He could do the five things you have to do to be a superstar: hit, hit with power, run, throw and field. And he had the other magic ingredient that turns a superstar into a super Superstar. Charisma. He lit up a room when he came in. He was a joy to be around.
--Leo Durocher, Mays's first manager, Nice Guys Finish Last
Many contemporaries agree with Leo Durocher's assessment of Willie Mays as the best all-around player in baseball history. Monte Irvin, Willie's roommate in his early days with the Giants, said, "I think anybody who saw him will tell you that Mays is the greatest ballplayer that ever lived." Stan Musial, Mays's fellow 1950s immortal, echoes these sentiments, saying, "Willie ranks with DiMaggio as the best I ever saw. He's the perfect ballplayer too. Mays can beat a club with his bat, his glove, his arm and his legs."
In baseball's never ending attempts to somehow order its gods, Mays is the only contender whose proponents rarely use statistics to make their case. It is as if Mays's 660 home runs and 3,283 base hits somehow sell the man short, that his wonderful playing record is almost beside the point. With Mays it is not merely what he did -- but how he did it. He scored more than 2,000 runs, nearly all of them, it would seem, after losing his cap flying around third base. He is credited with more than 7000 outfield putouts, most exciting, some spectacular, a few breathtaking. How do you measure that? An artist and a genius, for most of his 23 seasons in the big leagues, you simply could not keep your eyes off Willie Mays.
The great ballplayer's father, William Howard Mays, was named after William Howard Taft, who was the United States president when he was born in 1912. The elder Mays worked in the steel mills of Westfield, Alabama, outside Birmingham. Nicknamed "Kitty-Kat" or "Cat," he was a semipro baseball player for the Westfield entry in the Tennessee Coal and Iron League. Cat's father, Willie's grand-father, Walter Mays, was a sharecropper and pitcher. Cat's wife, the former Anna Sattlewhite, was a high school track star. Willie once wrote, "[She] held a couple of women's track records in that part of the country."
2008-2008-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 2006-Costas-Now (in person), 2003-100-Years-of-the-World-Series (in person), 1998-Up-Close-Primetime (in person), 1993-Comic-Relief:-Baseball-Relief-'93 (in person), 1974-1976-The-Way-It-Was (in person), 1974-Today (in person), 1973-1973-World-Series (in person), 1965-1970-The-Tonight-Show-Starring-Johnny-Carson (in person), 1970-1970-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1970-Della (in person), 1969-1969-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1967-1967-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1964-1966-The-Donna-Reed-Show (in person), 1964-1964-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1958-1958-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1954-Tonight! (in person), 2003-ESPN-SportsCentury (Other), 1991-When-It-Was-a-Game (Other), 2010-Charlie-Rose (in person), 1999-ABC-2000:-The-Millennium (in person), 1990-The-Golden-Decade-of-Baseball (in person), 1977-1977-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1972-1972-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1969-The-Joey-Bishop-Show (in person), 1964-1967-The-Hollywood-Palace (in person), 1963-A-Man-Named-Mays (in person), 1956-The-NBC-Comedy-Hour (in person), 1955-1955-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1951-1951-World-Series (in person), 2011-Prime-9 (Other), 1992-Malcolm-X (Other), 1974-Dinah! (in person), 2010-The-Daily-Show-with-Jon-Stewart (in person), 2007-2007-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 2000-Here's-to-You,-Charlie-Brown:-50-Great-Years (in person), 1989-My-Two-Dads (in person), 1985-When-Nature-Calls (in person), 1973-1973-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1971-1971-National-League-Championship-Series (in person), 1969-The-Joe-Namath-Show (in person), 1967-All-Star-Benefit-Celebrity-Baseball-Game (in person), 1966-Bewitched (in person), 1965-1965-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1963-1963-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1962-1962-World-Series (in person), 1954-1962-What's-My-Line (in person), 1960-Home-Run-Derby (in person), 1954-1954-World-Series (in person), 2010-A-Hall-for-Heroes:-The-Inaugural-Hall-of-Fame-Induction-of-1939 (Other), 2003-The-Curse-of-the-Bambino (Other), 1999-Summer-of-Sam (Other), 1960-World-Wide-'60 (Other), 1987-A-Giants-History:-The-Tale-of-Two-Cities (in person), 2006-The-Republic-of-Baseball:-The-Dominican-Giants-of-the-American (in person), 1954-The-Colgate-Comedy-Hour (Sound), 2009-2011-Prime-9 (in person), 2005-The-Top-5-Reasons-You-Can't-Blame... (in person), 2005-ESPN-25:-Who's-#1 (in person), 2000-2004-ESPN-SportsCentury (in person), 2000-Michael-Jordan-to-the-Max (in person), 2000-Joe-DiMaggio:-The-Final-Chapter (in person), 1992-1992-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1991-This-Week-in-Baseball's-Greatest-Plays (in person), 1989-Mr.-Belvedere (in person), 1973-1973-National-League-Championship-Series (in person), 1972-The-ABC-Saturday-Superstar-Movie (in person), 1971-1971-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1968-1968-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1966-1966-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1957-1957-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1956-1956-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 1954-The-Colgate-Comedy-Hour (in person), 1954-1954-MLB-All-Star-Game (in person), 2005-ESPN-25:-Who's-#1 (Other), 1997-The-Fifties (Other), 1992-The-50-Greatest-Home-Runs-in-Baseball-History (Other), 1958-The-Steve-Allen-Plymouth-Show (in person), 1958-The-Jack-Paar-Tonight-Show (in person), 1955-1957-The-Ed-Sullivan-Show (in person), 1990-Baseball's-Greatest-Hits (in person)
Style
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - ADVERTISEMENT SIGNED - HFSID 295695The Hall of Famer is shown in two images on this 7x5 black and white advertisement. Advertisement signed: "Willie Mays" in black felt tip, B/w 7x5. Bally's Las Vegas publicity photograph.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED BASEBALL - HFSID 284440Single-signed National League baseball, signed in blue felt tip on the sweet spot Baseball signed: "Willie Mays". Rawlings Official National League Baseball (William D. White, President). Signed in blue felt tip on the sweet spot.
Price: $600.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED BASEBALL - HFSID 288557Single-signed National League baseball, signed in blue ink on the sweet spot. Baseball signed: "Willie Mays". Rawlings Official National League Baseball (A. Bartlett Giamatti President). Signed in blue ink on the sweet spot. JSA authentication sticker affixed (#X22626).
Price: $500.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED BASEBALL - HFSID 289790Baseball signed by Hall of Famer Willie Mays Baseball signed "Willie Mays" in blue ink. 2½-inch diameter baseball. With JSA sticker and Certificate of Authenticity (#F69241). Rawlings Official National League baseball.
Price: $500.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 286131Signed 20x24 photo of his spectacular catch in the 1954 World Series Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". B/w, 20x24.
Price: $550.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 288547Signed 19x16 photo of his spectacular catch in the 1954 World Series, signed in silver ink Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". B/w, 19x16.
Price: $550.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 253123Black and white publicity photograph of Willie Mays wearing his New York uniform with his hand resting on his hip. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". B/w, 7¾x9¾.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 266757Black and white 20x24 publicity photograph of Willie Mays catching the ball on September 29, 1954 at the Polo Grounds in New York, with the score tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning of Game One of the 1954 World Series, the Cleveland Indians had Larry Doby on second base and Al Rosen on
Price: $550.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 280137Signed color publicity photo of the Say Hey Kid at bay in San Francisco Giants colors Photograph signed "Willie Mays" in blue ink. Color, 8x9¾. Authenticity label from GAI Global in bottom right corner. Mays (1931-2024), born Willie Howard Mays, Jr.
Price: $350.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 44961Black and white publicity photograph of Willie Mays on the ball field. Photograph signed: "Willie/Mays". B/w, 8x10.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 57100Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays smiling wearing his Mets uniform. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10 overall, image 7x9 (one surface).
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 57105Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10 overall, image 7x9 (one surface).
Sale Price $135.00
$160.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 72699Small color publicity photograph of Willie Mays wearing his Giant's uniform. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 5x7 overall, image 4¼x5¾ (one surface). Captioned at lower margin.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 72700Small color publicity photograph of Willie Mays looking at the camera. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 5½x7 overall, image 5x6½ (one surface).
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 84117Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 84119Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays bending on his knee in the grass holding a baseball bat. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Sale Price $245.00
$300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 114533Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 10x8.
Price: $220.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 114535Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays about to step out of the dugout. Photograph signed: "Willie/Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 114544Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays resting with his hand on his head. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 135653Sepia 11x14 publicity photograph of Willie Mays wearing his Giants uniform kneeling on the ball field with his bat. Large Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Sepia, 11x14.
Sale Price $245.00
$300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 135654Sepia 11x14 publicity photograph of Willie Mays wearing his Giants uniform. Large Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Sepia, 11x14.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158790Small black and white publicity photograph of Willie Mays sitting in the dugout with his arms resting on his knees. Photograph signed: "Willie/Mays". B/w, 5x7.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158791Small color publicity photograph of Willie Mays smiling at the crowd holding a bat. Photograph signed: "Willie/Mays". Color, 4x5½.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158796Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays getting ready to swing at a baseball. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158797Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". B/w, 8x10. Considered by many the greatest player of all time, Willie Mays was the prototype of the complete player; he hit for average and power, ran the bases with intelligence and speed, played a spectacular centerfield, and possessed a great arm.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158799Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays smiling at the camera. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158801Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays throwing a baseball. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Sale Price $245.00
$300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158802Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays with a bat over his shoulder smiling at the camera. Photograph signed: "Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Price: $300.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158805Black and white publicity photograph of Willie Mays catching a baseball. Photograph signed: "Best Wishes/Willie Mays". B/w, 8x10.
Price: $280.00
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WILLIE "SAY HEY KID" MAYS - AUTOGRAPHED SIGNED PHOTOGRAPH - HFSID 158808Color publicity photograph of Willie Mays relaxing against a chain link fence. Photograph signed: "Best Wishes/Willie Mays". Color, 8x10.
Sale Price $225.00
$280.00