Fastball

Timeless Treasures From the Life of Willie Mays are Going on Sale For Great Reason

The personal collection is going up for auction.
Brady Farkas|
San Francisco Giants team members wear a patch to honor longtime player Willie Mays during action against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sept 19.
San Francisco Giants team members wear a patch to honor longtime player Willie Mays during action against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on Sept 19. | Mitch Stringer-Imagn Images

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According to Bob Nightengale of USA Today, the personal collection of Hall of Famer Willie Mays is going to auction for a good reason.

The personal collection of late Hall of Famer Willie Mays is going on sale with all proceeds of the auction going to Mays’ Say Hey! Foundation. The collection includes his Presidential Medal of Freedom, his 1954 World Series ring and two MVP awards.

According to the Say Hey! Foundation, this is the mission of the organization:

The Say HeyFoundation is dedicated to fulfilling Willie Mays’s dream of giving every child a chance by offering underprivileged youth positive opportunities through athletics, coaching, nutrition, education, and providing safer communities. 

A 23-year-veteran of the major leagues, Mays played for the New York and San Francisco Giants, as well as the Mets. He also spent part of the 1948 season with the Birmingham Black Barons. He was a 24-time All-Star who made the All-Star Game every year from 1954-1973. He was a 12-time Gold Glover, a two-time All-Star MVP, a 1954 World Series champion, a two-time MVP (1954, 1965) and a Rookie of the Year (1951).

His Baseball Reference page is littered with league-leading accolades: He led the National League in runs scored twice, the major leagues in hits once (1960), and the NL in triples three times. He also led the majors in home runs three times and the National League four times, including hitting 52 home runs in 1965. He led the National League in stolen bases four times and won a batting title in 1954.

For his career, he was a .301 hitter. He's part of the 3,000 hit club (3,293) and the 600-home run club (660). He ranks sixth on the all-time home run list behind Barry Bonds (762), Hank Aaron (755), Babe Ruth (714), Albert Pujols (703) and Alex Rodriguez (696).

Mays was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 and was named to the All-Century team in 1999. He entered the Hall of Fame in the same year as Hack Wilson and executive Warren Giles.

He died in 2024.

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Brady Farkas
BRADY FARKAS

Brady Farkas is a baseball writer for Fastball on Sports Illustrated/FanNation and the host of 'The Payoff Pitch' podcast which can be found on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Videos on baseball also posted to YouTube. Brady has spent nearly a decade in sports talk radio and is a graduate of Oswego State University. You can follow him on Twitter @WDEVRadioBrady. 

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