The Great Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr was. born on May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama. Both of Mays’ parents were athletic. His mother played basketball, and his father was a steel worker and semi-professional baseball ployer. Willie Jr. learned to play baseball at an early age, His high school didn’t have a baseball team so Willie played basketball and football. He joined his father on the mill team and decided to pursue a career in baseball. In 1947 Willie began playing in the Negro Leagues. He started out with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and went on to play for the Birmingham Black Barons, which he led to the 1948 Negro League World Series.
Major League Baseball
In 1950 Willie Mays graduated from Fairfield Industrial High School. Upon graduation he was signed by the New York Giants and sent to their Trenton, New Jersey farm team. From there he advanced to the Minneapolis Millers AAA farm team before getting the call from Leo Durocher In 1951 to join the Giants in New York City. Mays position was at Center field. He hit another 20 home runs in his first season! Not only could Willi hit, but he made spectacular plays! In a game against Pittsburgh, Mays zoomed across the field stopping a 475-foot drive bare handed. Mays helped the Giants win the National League Pennant in his first major league season!
Giants Move To San Francisco
In 1952 Mays was drafted into the U.S. Army. He returned to the Giants in 1954 after serving two years. That year, he pulled off a League-high .345, with 41 home runs. Mays received The Most Valuable Player award, and led the Giants into the World Series against the Cleveland Indians. The Giants defeated Cleveland by winning four straight games. Mays phenomenal over-the-shoulder catch in game 1 continues to be among the most talked about plays in baseball history! In 1955 Mays hit an extraordinary 51 home runs! He also delivered one of his best performances at the All-Star game with an incredible flying catch.
Willie Mays married Marghuerite Wendell in 1959. That year the couple adopted a son, Michael Mays. As his Giants team planned its move from New York City to San Francisco’s Seals Stadium, Mays and his family planned to purchase a home in the Sherwood Forest area. The home was located at 175 Miraloma drive on a quiet street near the ocean. The property owner who initially agreed to sell the home to Mays attempted to back out after receiving pressure from others in the all-white neighborhood. Eventually the Mays purchased the home, but after a year of being subjected to racial hatred, threats of violence and a bottle throwing incident, they moved out and returned back to New York.
“Say Hey Kid” Meet Me In St. Louis
As Willie Mays began to spend more time away from home, he and his wife grew further apart. In August 1960 Willie Mays was in Saint Louis Missouri for a game between the Giants and Cardinals. He met a young 28 year old named Ella Mae (Clark( Marion. Willie and Ella Mae were instantly attracted to each other. As both of them were married to other people, they began a secret affair.
Ella Mae soon separated from her husband , and returned to her hometown of Peoria, Illinois with her eldest son Daryl. Ella continued to keep her affair with Willie Mays secret, but she constantly talked about him. In January 2019, Rose (Clark) Morris offered memories of Ella Mae (Clark) Marion and how she loved to talk about “The Say Hey Kid” Willie Mays, saying
“The Clark’s oldest daughter Ella Mae (Clark) Marion returned from St. Louis, Missouri. When she arrived in Peoria, she was dressed in the finest clothing and wearing Stone Marten. Her son, Daryl wore a camel-colored Cashmere coat with a matching Cashmere hat. Ella Mae was stylish, classy, and extremely beautiful. Many men watched her as she sashayed down the street. Several men damaged their vehicles on Sheridan Road because they were fixated on her beauty” ….”Ella Mae eventually moved to a small apartment nearby. The proximity was so close that the family could frequently visit one another. At her apartment, they could listen to the latest soul music on the radio while avoiding the strict oversight of home. They listened to popular songs like The Twist by Chubby Checker and Stand by Me by Ben E. King. Ella Mae would play her favorite albums on her record player. She enjoyed dancing to the latest tunes and smoking Lucky Strikes cigarettes. She also loved talking about the "Say Hey Kid", famous Major League Baseball player, Willie Mays.”
From the book “Chronicle of the Seventh Son Black Panther Mark Clark by Rose (Clark) Morris
In May 1961, approximately nine months after Ella Mae (Clark) Marion’s affair with Willie Mays, she gave birth to a son, Errol Craig Marion.
Willie Mays Reaches 3,000 Career Hits!
By 1963 Willie Mays and his wife Marguerite divorced. Willie Mays hit 52 home runs and received the Most Valuable Player award for the second time in his professional career in 1965. In 1966 Mays signed a new contract with the Giants making him, for a moment in time, the highest-paid player in the history of baseball!
In 1970 Willie Mays paid a visit to Peoria, Illinois. Errol Craig recalls Mays driving up to the front of his mother’s apartment. Errol was 9 or 10 years of age at the time. Ella Mae never told her son that Willie Mays was his real father. Instead, when Mays arrived she just politely asked Errol if he would like to go for a ride with him. Errol knew Willie Mays was a famous man, and recalls jumping into Mays' fancy red convertible with white leather interior. During their ride Errol recalls Willie Mays saying “I play baseball on TV”.
That same year Willie Mays got his career hit number 3,000! It occurred on July 18, 1970 in San Francisco when the Giants played Montreal.
Sadly, in September 1970 Ella Mae (Clark) Marion passed away leaving her son Errol and his older brother in the care of their grandmother Fannie Clark. Errol would not have another face to face meeting with Willie Mays. Infact, it would not be until decades later that Errol Craig Marion learned the real truth,that Willie Mays is his biological father! This occurred In 2020 when Errol Craig began researching his ancestry. He underwent DNA testing and the results were proof positive that Errol was linked by DNA to members of Willie Mays family. This was confirmation that he is indeed “the Kid of The Say Hey Kid”.
In 1971 Willie Mays married Mae Louise Allen. The couple were married for over 41 years until her death in 2013.
The Greatest Player In Baseball History
Willie Mays started his professional career with the New York Giants and ended it by returning to New York to play for the Mets. After retiring from the Mets in 1973 he became a public relations executive. Willie Mays was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979. He returned to the Giants to as the President’s special assistant in 1986; and in 1993 The Giants made it a lifetime appointment!
Willie Mays is probably the greatest all-round baseball player of all time. His awesome catching ability, career high 3,283 hits, 2,062 runs scored, record 660 home runs, 2 National League Most Valuable Player awards, 12 Golden Glove Awards,and his character, charisma and love for the game of baseball are all testament of his greatness!
At age 92, Willie Mays is a living legend!