Willie Mays: Baseball Fans Celebrate Giants Legend's 90th Birthday

Brian Jones

05/07/2021 11:41 am EDT

Willie Mays has reached a huge milestone. The San Francisco Giants legend turned 90 on Thursday, making him the oldest living Baseball Hall of Famer. He was a member of the Giants for most of his career (1951-1952, 1954-1972) and ended his career with the New York Mets (1972-1973). Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979,

"You'd sit on the bench and watch Willie Mays," Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson said to ESPN. "It was so exciting just to watch him. People did that with Jim Brown. They did that with the acrobatics and greatness of [Michael] Jordan. It's like players today going to watch the pregame warm-ups of Steph Curry. To watch Willie warm-up, to throw the ball underhand, to make a basket catch. The beauty and the grace. For the kids today, it was like watching Simone Biles. It was like watching [Mikhail] Baryshnikov. It was poetry in motion."

In his career, Mays was named an All-Star 24 times and National League MVP twice. He hit 660 career home runs, the sixth-most of all time, and an MLB record 22 homers. Mays won 12 Gold Glove awards for his work in center field and helped the Giants win the World Series in 1954. Here's a look at baseball fans sending love to Mays.

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One fan wrote: "Happy 90th Willie!!! I still remember watching Willie get his 3,000 hit at Candlestick Park in 1970 with my dad!"

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"Growing up in New York City I was the only Giants fan; all the other little kids were Yankees or Dodgers," one Twitter user wrote. "My proudest moment amongst my little friends was when my NY Giants swept the 1954 World Series as Willie Mays, always my favorite player, made the greatest catch of all time."

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Another fan wrote: "In 1969, my uncle sent Willie $5 asking Willie to send me an autographed picture that read "Congratulations on your Bar Mitzvah". Which of course he did."

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Here's another fan that got the opportunity to see Mays play. "Watched him play at Candlestick many times while I was growing up," the fan wrote. " What a treat!"

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Another fan revealed: "I was a youngster in 1973 (11 yrs old) when Mays joined the Mets in 1973. I was thrilled, even though at that point he was in the twilight of his career. I would like to think he had something to do with the Mets reaching the WS that year. I am so glad I got to see him play."

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Another fan replied: "He was also the nicest guy - I sold him Girl Scout cookies when I was a kid. He lived up the street from the Jr High in my neighborhood in San Mateo. Saw him play many times at Candlestick."

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"Best part of The Catch: The pitcher on that play was Don Liddle," the fan said when talking about Mays' famous catch. "Vic Wertz was the only batter he faced. They bring in the next pitcher, and Liddle tells him, "Well, I got my man."

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