Willie Mays

HandednessBats Right · Throws Right

Listed at5 ft 10 in · 170 lb

BornMay 6, 1931 · Westfield, AL, USA

MLB debutMay 25, 1951

Final gameSeptember 9, 1973

Seasons23 (1948–1973)

Birmingham Black Barons 1948; New York Giants 1951–1952; New York Giants 1954–1957; San Francisco Giants 1958–1971; New York Mets 1972; San Francisco Giants 1972; New York Mets 1973

Percentile snapshot

1971 season — qualified batters

136

20.5

537

417

0.9

75.9

113

3.6

61.6

65.2

62.5

RBI

43.8

112

99.1

123

4.5

89.3

55.4

.271

52.7

OBP

.425

99.1

SLG

.482

83.9

OPS

.907

95.5

wRC+

165.8

96.4

OPS+

158.7

96.4

wOBA

.416

96.4

sWAR

5.7

93.8

of 113 qualified 1971 batters (min 502 PA)

Career, era-adjusted

wRC+

157.2

98.9

OPS+

156.3

98.6

sWAR

134.3

100

wRC+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; OPS+ measured against qualified careers (3,000+ PA), 2,078 of them; sWAR measured against every career in history, 24,011 of them. Only era-adjusted career stats carry a percentile — a raw career total gets a rank instead, because pooling the 1890s with the 2020s is a choice, not a measurement.

Season by season

Batting

Season	G	PA	AB	R	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	SB	CS	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	wRC+	OPS+	wOBA	sWAR
1948	13	48	43	6	10	2	1	0	6	4	0	1	0	.233	.313	.326	.638	75.6	71.0	.307	0.0
1951	121	524	464	59	127	22	5	20	68	57	60	7	4	.274	.356	.472	.828	121.3	121.2	.372	3.3
1952	34	144	127	17	30	2	4	4	23	16	17	4	1	.236	.326	.409	.736	102.5	102.7	.338	0.6
1954	151	640	565	119	195	33	13	41	110	66	57	8	5	.345	.411	.667	1.078	179.2	177.5	.460	8.7
1955	152	670	580	123	185	18	13	51	127	79	60	24	4	.319	.400	.659	1.059	174.5	177.0	.447	8.7
1956	152	650	578	101	171	27	8	36	84	68	65	40	10	.296	.369	.557	.926	143.7	146.0	.393	5.9
1957	152	668	585	112	195	26	20	35	97	76	62	38	19	.333	.407	.626	1.033	173.6	173.2	.439	8.4
1958	152	685	600	121	208	33	11	29	96	78	56	31	6	.347	.419	.583	1.002	166.9	164.1	.434	8.2
1959	151	648	575	125	180	43	5	34	104	65	58	27	4	.313	.381	.583	.964	158.1	159.3	.415	7.1
1960	153	669	595	107	190	29	12	29	103	61	70	25	10	.319	.381	.555	.936	159.0	160.8	.406	7.3
1961	154	659	572	129	176	32	3	40	123	81	77	18	9	.308	.393	.584	.977	157.7	160.8	.418	7.2
1962	162	706	621	130	189	36	5	49	141	78	85	18	2	.304	.384	.615	.999	163.8	166.6	.431	8.3
1963	157	671	596	115	187	32	7	38	103	66	83	8	3	.314	.380	.582	.962	179.3	175.8	.423	9.1
1964	157	665	578	121	171	21	9	47	111	82	72	19	5	.296	.383	.607	.990	174.1	173.5	.428	8.6
1965	157	638	558	118	177	21	3	52	112	76	71	9	4	.317	.398	.645	1.043	188.2	187.7	.449	9.1
1966	152	629	552	99	159	29	4	37	103	70	81	5	1	.288	.368	.556	.924	153.1	152.0	.401	6.4
1967	141	544	486	83	128	22	2	22	70	51	92	6	0	.263	.334	.453	.787	127.5	126.0	.356	3.9
1968	148	573	498	84	144	20	5	23	79	67	81	12	6	.289	.372	.488	.860	165.0	158.1	.394	6.7
1969	117	459	403	64	114	17	3	13	58	49	71	6	2	.283	.362	.437	.798	125.8	125.2	.365	3.2
1970	139	566	478	94	139	15	2	28	83	79	90	5	0	.291	.390	.506	.897	143.0	140.3	.404	5.1
1971	136	537	417	82	113	24	5	18	61	112	123	23	3	.271	.425	.482	.907	165.8	158.7	.416	5.7
1972	88	309	244	35	61	11	1	8	22	60	48	4	5	.250	.400	.402	.802	140.2	130.9	.378	2.5
1973	66	239	209	24	44	10	0	6	25	27	47	1	0	.211	.303	.344	.647	85.4	81.3	.307	0.3

Career totals

3,005

9th-most career G

12,541

12th-most career PA

10,924

14th-most career AB

2,068

7th-most career R

3,293

13th-most career H

525

47th-most career 2B

141

63rd-most career 3B

660

6th-most career HR

RBI

1,909

12th-most career RBI

1,468

22nd-most career BB

1,526

78th-most career SO

339

124th-most career SB

.3014

207th-highest career batting average

OBP

.3836

159th-highest career on-base percentage

SLG

.5566

24th-highest career slugging percentage

OPS

.9402

37th-highest career OPS

A total is called out only where it ranks in the all-time top 500; hover a figure for its rank and the size of the field it was ranked in. Ranks are absolute facts and carry no percentile — the population for "career home runs" would be an editorial choice, and the rank is not.

Best games

Batting

Date	Game	AB	R	H	3B	HR	RBI	BB	TB
1961-04-30	SF @ ATL Gameday	5	4	4	0	4	8	0	16
1958-05-13	SF @ LAD Gameday	5	4	5	2	2	4	1	15
1961-06-29	SF @ PHI Gameday	5	3	4	0	3	5	0	13
1963-06-02	SF @ STL Gameday	5	3	3	0	3	4	0	12
1962-08-06	PHI @ SF Gameday	5	2	5	0	2	5	0	11

Pitching

Date	Game	IP	H	R	ER	BB	SO	HR
1948-05-01	CLB @ BBB Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-02	CLB @ BBB Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-02	CLB @ BBB Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-03	CLB @ BBB Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0
1948-05-05	BBB @ CLB Gameday	0.0	0	0	0	0	0	0

Ranked from our own play-by-play game log, which begins in 1901 — not from the record book, so a career played outside it shows nothing here rather than a short list.

Honors

Hall of Fame, 1979 (BBWAA)

12× Gold Glove2× Most Valuable Player2× All-Star Game MVP1× Rookie of the Year20× All-Star

Major awards only — the awards table also records Player of the Week, and forty of those would bury seven MVPs. Hover for the years.