AURN News with Ebony McMorris

World Mourns Legend of the Diamond, Willie Mays, 1931-2024

Ebony McMorris
June 21, 2024

Reading Time: 3 minutes

“I gave everything I had.”

And that he did. That was the voice of Willie Mays, who died Tuesday at 93. He was one of the greatest baseball players of all time.

During last night’s game between the St. Louis Cardinals and the San Francisco Giants at Rickwood Field, it was a special night of tributes.

“Please join us in a moment of silence as we remember the great Willie Mays.”

Willie “Say Hey Kid” Mays was one of the last living players of the Negro League that started in 1948 with the Birmingham Black Barons. The Titan, whose iconic basket catch in the 1954 World Series is etched in the annals of sports history, played 22 seasons, including stints with the San Francisco Giants, New York Mets, and Oakland Athletics.

Willie Mays (24) of the San Francisco Giants connects for his 600th lifetime home run, Sept. 23, 1969, in San Diego, Calif. Willie Mays, the electrifying “Say Hey Kid” whose singular combination of talent, drive and exuberance made him one of baseball’s greatest and most beloved players, has died. He was 93. Mays’ family and the San Francisco Giants jointly announced Tuesday night, June 18, 2024, he had died earlier in the afternoon in the Bay Area. (AP Photo)

The Alabama native had 24 All-Star selections, a National League MVP award in 1965, and a World Series championship in 1954. He finished a career batting average of .302, 660 home runs, and in 1979 was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Click play to listen to the report from AURN White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris. For more news, follow @E_N_McMorris & @aurnonline.

White House Correspondent Ebony McMorris is a native Washingtonian and University of South Carolina alumna. Her passion is mentoring young adults by teaching community empowerment and media education. She is an NAB member and board member of the Thurgood Marshall Center and was presented the President’s Lifetime Achievement Award for contributing more than 4,000 hours of community service under the Obama Administration.