With 660 career home runs, 3,283 hits, and 2,062 runs scored, Mays is among the all-time leaders. He also received 12 Gold Gloves for fielding excellence and was named to the All-Star Game a record-tying 24 times. In 1979, he was easily inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
Mays joined the San Francisco Giants as a player/manager in 1956. He played first base and left field and had a career batting average of.292. As a manager, he led the team to the World Series in 1957 and 1958. After retiring as a player in 1960, he continued to manage the Giants through 1976 when he was fired during a season in which they finished last in the league standings.
In a 17-year career, Mays hit.288 with 393 homers and 1347 RBI's. He is considered one of the best defensive players in baseball history and was voted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1981.
Mays, Willie He spent the latter part of his career in the infield, primarily at first base. His batting average was.302 and he has 660 home runs in his career. Mays got 3,283 hits in his career, making him one of only a few players to have more than 3,000 career hits. In 1955, 1962, and 1964-65, he topped the league in home runs. Mays was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
Average by month from 1947-64:.322 July August September October November December January February March April May June July 8th Average monthly temperature in San Francisco Bay Area in Celsius
Willie Mays's batting average was.302 in his career. The highest batting average of any player with at least 3000 hits is.311 by Ted Williams. The lowest batting average of any player with at least 3000 hits is.256 by George Suggs. Mays got 3,283 hits in his career. That's more than any other player except Ty Cobb (4,191 hits). Mays played in an era when there were fewer games per season (162 vs. today's 175) and many more at bats per game (15 per match then vs. today's 6). Thus, while today's players are able to accumulate more hits, they also play more games which results in a higher batting average per match.
In addition to having more hits than anyone else, Mays led the league in home runs three times (1955, 1962, and 1964-65).
Mays achieved the feat in 1957, when he had 26 doubles, 20 triples, 35 home runs, and 38 stolen bases. That season, he had the greatest on-base percentage (.407) and slugging percentage (.626) of any of the four players in this select club. Mays's achievements that year were enough to earn him the MVP Award.
Willie Mays is one of only nine players to have both a double and triple in every league season since 1900. The other eight players are Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Mike Schmidt, Alex Rodriguez, Carl Yastrzemski, Mickey Mantle, and Joe DiMaggio.
Mays's 1957 season was also remarkable for another reason: it included two games played in San Francisco and Los Angeles. On April 17 of that year, the New York Giants hosted the Brooklyn Dodgers at Polo Field, now known as Veterans Stadium. In the first game of a doubleheader, Mays got off to a fast start with three hits and three RBIs before being lifted for a pinch-hitter in the fourth inning. The Giants lost 1-4. Two days later in Los Angeles, the Athletics beat the Giants 7-3 in the second game of the doubleheader. Mays had no extra-base hits in either game but still managed to get two bags on each play.
Mays hit his 500th home run in 1965, during a career-high 52-homer season with the Giants. This was ten years after he hit 51 home runs for the Giants in 1955, the greatest gap between 50-homer seasons for any player. At the time of his death in 2014, Mays remained one of only four players to hit more than 500 homers (along with Roger Maris, Mike Schmidt and Alex Rodriguez). The other three are all in the Hall of Fame.
Mays' average home run distance was 467 feet, while his average weight when hitting a ball was not reported by any major newspaper at the time but has been estimated at around 175 pounds. Based on these figures, it is estimated that Mays hit his 500th home run about 517 feet from home plate.
In addition to being one of the most feared hitters in baseball, Willie Mays was also an outstanding fielder who won two Gold Gloves while playing center field for the New York Giants. He made several acrobatic catches during this era of baseball, including a leaping catch in left field against the Chicago Cubs' Ron Santo to rob Ernie Banks of a home run in April 1966. In fact, Mays' ability to make incredible catches is what first brought attention to him as a hitter. When he was younger, many people thought he could only get attention as a catcher because of his size.
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