Cursed Images
He Played Where?!Volume Eight
Willie Mays, Mets
Willie Mays was one of the top five greatest players of all time, no matter how you look at it. His 20 seasons with the Giants really need no summation. Mays consistently put up insane numbers throughout the 1950s and 1960s, missing only 1953 due to military service.
The Say Hey Kid debuted in 1948 as a 17-year-old in the Negro Leagues, with the Birmingham Black Barons. The next youngest player on the team was 23 years old. Fast forward to 1951 and Mays, playing for the Triple-A Minneapolis Millers, put up an insane line of .477/.524/.799 over 35 games, earning a callup at just 20 years old. He was at a movie theater in Sioux City, Iowa, when a message flashed on the screen: “Willie Mays call your hotel”.
By 1972, Mays cemented himself as not just a Hall of Famer, but one of the best of all-time. His Giants, however, were in some financial trouble and decided to trade him to the New York Mets after some clandestine meetings between the teams’ owners. It was reported that the move was made so Mays could ‘go home’, but he found out about the trade through a reporter while it was being finalized. The Mets offered Mays $50,000 per year for the rest of his post-retirement life, and their first baseman, Jim Beauchamp, agreed to give up his iconic number 24.
His first game with the Mets was on Mother’s Day 1972 against none other than the Giants. Mays belted career dinger number 647, the game-winner in a 5-4 victory.
He closed out the year with a line of .267/.402/.446, very respectable for a 41-year-old. Willie returned for 1973 in what turned out to be his final year in the show. (This year-plus with the Mets means Mays is an exception to the Cursed Images rules: no more than one year with the odd team). 1973 saw Mays turn in the worst season of his career, as he went .211/.303/.344 with career home runs 655 through 660 before ‘retiring’ on September 20. The Mets held “Willie Mays Night” five days later:
Willie did play again, appearing in his final postseason, as the Mets advanced all the way to the World Series before falling to Oakland. In Game Two, there was an infamous botched call at home in the top of the 10th. Mays had a better angle than the umpire and let him know how poor the call was.
The Mets at least went on to win that game, but lost the series in seven. Mays went 3-10 before hanging it up for good.
After retiring from playing, Mays stayed on with the Mets as a goodwill coach and instructor until 1979. The Mets even retired his number, although not until 2022. This fulfilled the promise made by original Mets owner Joan Payson 50 years earlier, when she guaranteed that no future Met would ever wear number 24 again.
The Say Hey Kid was an absolute legend—even more so for me since he was my dad’s favorite player. For that reason, he has a plaque of Mays in his room that was a gift from me. The catch? It’s a cursed Mays on the Mets. Sorry Pop!
