Talk:Willie Mays

Article shortening
Per the recent peer review discussion, I am currently in the process of trimming the article. Some stuff is easier to condense than others, so I plan to list stuff that we might want to reincorporate in this section, just so it is not lost. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 22:46, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

When Mays first joined the Giants, Forbes made arrangements for him to stay with David and Anna Goosby, who lived on St. Nicholas Avenue and 151st Street.(Barra, p. 157) Just before his marriage in 1956, he bought a home near Columbia University in Upper Manhattan. Mays and Sahadi, p. 134 When the Giants moved to San Francisco, Mays bought a house in the Sherwood Woods neighborhood adjacent to St. Francis Wood, San Francisco in 1957. The purchase was initially met with backlash from neighbors who urged developer Walter Gnesdiloff to reconsider the repercussions "if colored people moved in". Kelley ref When mayor George Christopher heard Mays had been denied housing, he offered to share his house with Mays and his wife until they could get one. LaBounty Ultimately, Mays and his wife moved into the house in November 1957, and Mays wrote that when a brick was thrown through the window, "Some neighbors actually called to ask if they could help. So I didn't feel concerned about racial tensions in my neighborhood once the [1958] season was about to start." Mays and Sahadi, pp. 146–47 They only lived there for two years before moving back to New York. Mays and Sahadi, p. 154 However, in 1963, Mays bought a house at 54 Mendosa Avenue in Forest Hill. He was more immediately welcomed in this San Francisco neighborhood, as the homeowners association helped him throw a block party shortly after he moved in. LaBounty In 1969, he purchased a house in Atherton, California. Hirsch, p. 503 Linge, p. 151 As of 1987, he owned four houses, and a San Francisco Chronicle article from 2000 reported that Mays still lived in Atherton. Hirsch, p. 543 — Preceding unsigned comment added by Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk • contribs) 22:46, 13 December 2020 (UTC)

Negro League update
It seems his stats haven’t been updated  by collating those from the NL and ML, given the news on that today. I assume this hasn’t been done yet for the others who played both leagues. Rongaul (talk) 05:14, 17 December 2020 (UTC)


 * Statistical sites such as Baseball-Reference or MLB's own have not yet been updated to reflect this change, either. I'd say wait for them to be altered to update the stats. Otherwise, we don't have a good source to cite to. Sanfranciscogiants17 (talk) 11:21, 18 December 2020 (UTC)
 * Worth noting that MLB is only incorporating Negro Leagues statistics from 1924–1948, so a couple of Mays' best seasons with the Birmingham Black Barons won't officially count, though some of his earlier statistics, earned as a young teenager, may. --Dystopos (talk) 14:50, 27 January 2021 (UTC)

Suggestion to link short footnotes
I don't want to mess with the established style before checking here, but I noticed that the short footnotes are not linked to the full citations. This can easily lead to difficult-to-detect errors like the ones I just stumbled across, two short footnotes referring to "Berra, p. xx". There is no full source by anyone named "Berra". Using sfn would make such errors visible and make it easier for readers to link from short footnotes to each full citation. – Jonesey95 (talk) 15:17, 28 April 2021 (UTC)

How many All Stars?
It says he was a 24-time All-Star, from 1954-1973, but that's only 19 years. What is the truth? 24.142.68.214 (talk) 06:42, 26 March 2022 (UTC)
 * From Major League Baseball All-Star Game: "There were two All-Star Games played each season from 1959 through 1962. The second game was added to raise money for the MLB players' pension funds, as well as other causes. The experiment was later abandoned on the grounds that having two games watered down the appeal of the event." Rgrds. --Bison X (talk) 13:46, 26 March 2022 (UTC)

Gavin Newsom's Name is Spelt Wrong
It's Gavin Newsom, not Gavin Newsome. The article is locked so I can't edit it. 2601:646:9E81:AE83:FD66:AE02:D223:2569 (talk) 09:13, 19 June 2024 (UTC)


 * Good catch. I corrected the spelling of the governor's name and linked it to his article page. Jurisdicta (talk) 09:31, 19 June 2024 (UTC)
 * They kNEW SOMEthing was amiss. Fwahaha. 2A00:23C4:3E44:2C01:109:DDF1:70EB:46B3 (talk) 11:33, 19 June 2024 (UTC)

Titles should be capitalized
Also paying tribute to Mays were President Joe Biden, former President Barack Obama, Mayor London Breed of San Francisco, and Governor Gavin Newsom of California, as well as sports stars such as Magic Johnson and Barry Bonds. 2601:14C:8380:2B90:ECC4:5129:5FAB:441D (talk) 03:01, 20 June 2024 (UTC)

"all-time" should become "all time" in the second sentence of the article.
Just a simple copyediting suggestion. JayCrenshi (talk) 16:12, 20 June 2024 (UTC)


 * I agree with this suggestion as a review of credible news outlets use "all time" and not "all-time". See https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/nfl-100/2019/10/01/nfl-100-best-players-all-time/3785514002/ https://www.espn.com/nba/story/_/id/32432119/nba-75-greatest-players-all-complete-list Jurisdicta (talk) 16:22, 21 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Change made after verifying this is the correct way to state "all time". Jurisdicta (talk) 16:24, 21 June 2024 (UTC)

Coaching stint in infobox?
Re: adding Mays' coaching stint to the infobox in the current edit war, the last edit summary suggests there is a consensus to add this, but the only conversations I could find suggest otherwise: These discussions tend towards non-inclusion based on WP:UNDUE on players who were not known for their coaching career, and for a discussion to be held when there are disagreements. My opinion is Mays' coaching stint actually detracts from his career and is trivial when held up against his playing career. So I would lean omit. Rgrds. --BX (talk) 04:27, 6 July 2024 (UTC)
 * Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball/Archive 22
 * Wikipedia talk:WikiProject Baseball/Archive 50
 * Based on both those discussions there is no clear consensus, but who gets coaching history in the box and who doesn't? Mays has a relatively long stint as coach for Mets with six seasons, he also has his number retired by the club having spent triple the amount of time with the Mets as a coach than a player. Obviously yes, Mays may not be "known" as a coach over a player but then again nor would guys like Mark McGwire, Harold Baines, Yogi Berra, etc. but they all had a decent amount of years as coach.Beast from da East (talk) 06:00, 6 July 2024 (UTC)