Early Days
The Negro & Minor Leagues
The San Francisco Giants
In New York...
Accolades & Awards
Life After Baseball
100
Willie Mays was born on May 6, 1931 in Westfield, a company town located in this Southern state whose nicknames are “The Yellowhammer State” and the Heart of Dixie
What is Alabama?
100
The Negro Leagues started on February 13, 1920, when several Black baseball club owners formed the Negro National League at the Paseo Young Men’s Christian Organization in Kansas City- short for this
What is the YMCA?
100
From 1951-1952 & 1954-1972, Willie Mays played for this team that started in New York, but moved to San Francisco since 1958
What are the Giants?
100
In 1972, Willie Mays was traded back to New York, this time for the Yankees’ inter-city rival team, where he would spend the rest of his MLB career until his retirement after the end of the 1973 season
What is the New York Mets?
100
For helping the New York Giants win the 1954 MLB World Series, he was awarded the National League’s MVP Award, which is short for this
What is Most Valuable Player?
100
In addition to signing a lifetime contract with the San Francisco Giants in 1993, he helped promote public enthusiasm for the SF Giants’ current stadium, which opened since 2000
What is Oracle Park?/What is Pac Bell Park?/What is SBC Park?/What is AT&T Park?
200
During his time at Fairfield Industrial High School, not only did he played multiple sports such as basketball, but he also played quarterback, fullback, & punter in this sport
What is football?/What is American football?
200
Willie Mays 1st started playing in the Negro Leagues in summer 1948 for a brief time for this Chattanooga Negro minor league team, whose team name is named after the noise a train makes
What is Choo-Choo?/What are the Choo-Choos?/What is a Choo-Choo Train?
200
During the 1960 MLB Season, Willie Mays had trouble adjusting to winds at the SF Giants’ home stadium also known as “The Stick”, when it comes to home runs
What is Candlestick Park?
200
In 1957, Willie Mays became the 4th player in major league history at the time to join the 20-20-20 club, where a player hit 20 of the following during a single season (Hint: 3 answers)
What are 20 Doubles, 20 Triples, and 20 Homers (in a single MLB season)?
200
From 1957-1968, this is the number of times Willie Mays won the Gold Glove Award- another word for a dozen
What is 12?
200
This is how old Willie Mays was when he passed away on June 18, 2024
What is 93?
300
This is Willie Mays’ favorite baseball player growing up; this player played for the New York Yankees & was nicknamed “Joltin’ Joe”, “The Yankee Clipper”, & “Joe D”
Who is Joe DiMaggio?
300
Willie Mays’ next Negro League baseball team would be the Black Barons of the Negro American League during the 1948 season, in this Alabama city where MLK Jr. wrote a letter from a jail cell in 1963
What is Birmingham?
300
During an April 1970 game, Willie Mays collided with this teammate in the San Francisco Giants, who is the father of Barry Bonds, while reaching his glove over the wall
Who is Bobby Bonds?
300
The New York Giants won the 1954 World Series thanks to this moment where Willie Mays did an over-the-shoulder running grab of a long drive off the bat of Vic Wertz 425 ft from home plate
What is The Catch?
300
In 1979, Willie Mays was elected into this Hall of Fame for baseball players, with 94.7% of first ballot votes during his 1st year of eligibility
What is the Baseball Hall of Fame?
300
In October 1979, Willie Mays’ 1st job after retiring from baseball entirely was working as a greeter & special assistant at Bally’s Park Place in Atlantic City, located in this state near New York
What is New Jersey?
400
Although Willie Mays turned 18 in 1949, he did not graduate from high school until that following year- a year before he started playing for Major League Baseball’s New York Giants
What is 1950?
400
The Homestead Grays defeated Willie Mays’ team, the Birmingham Black Barons 4-1, in the Negro Leagues’ version of the World Series in 1948
What is the Negro World Series?
400
He was Willie Mays’ teammate in the SF Giants who battled for the home run lead in the NL during the 1961 season; he died on June 28, 2024- 10 days later after Mays’ death
Who is Orlando Cepeda?
400
Upon his return to the major leagues after serving in the US Army during the Korean War, Willie Mays began the 1954 season on Opening Day with a home run of over 126 meters, which is this in feet
What is 414 feet?
400
Not only this is Willie Mays’ number during his MLB career with the New York/San Francisco Giants & NY Mets, but it is also the number of All-Star awards (and the location of the Willie Mays Statue in SF)
What is 24?
400
From his retirement as a baseball player until 1979, Willie Mays was an instructor helping other players in the Mets hit balls with baseball bats- another term for this
What is a hitting instructor?
500
This is the age Willie Mays was exposed to baseball, as his father, Cat Mays, started playing catch with him; his dad allowed him to sit on the bench with his Birmingham Industrial League team at age 10
What is 5?
500
With racial integration in the MLB since Jackie Robinson’s signing in 1947, the Negro National League disbanded as a major league after 1949, with the Negro American League continuing as a minor league until the end of this year 13 years later
What is 1962?
500
This is the record-setting amount per season Willie Mays signed prior to the start of the 1963- which, adjusted to inflation in 2023, is $1,040,000
What is $105,000 per season?
500
During his 1st season with the New York Giants in 1951, he won this MLB award for baseball players who excelled during their 1st season in the MLB
What is the MLB Rookie of the Year Award?/What is the Rookie of the Year Award?
500
In January 1970, Willie Mays was named the “Player of the Decade” of the 1960s by one of the oldest sports news publications in the United States
What is Sporting News?/What is The Sporting News?
500
In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Willie Mays the nation’s highest civilian award, called this
What is the Presidential Medal of Freedom?