Willie Mays, one of the greatest baseball players of all time, dies at age 93

Willie Mays, the iconic baseball legend whose remarkable career spanned 22 seasons, has died, the San Francisco Giants announced Tuesday. He was 93 years old.

Mays “passed away peacefully this afternoon,” the Giants said in a statement.

“All of Major League Baseball is in mourning today as we gather in the same ballpark where a career and legacy like no other began,” Major League Commissioner Rob Manfred said in a statement Tuesday evening . “Willie Mays brought his brilliance from the Birmingham Black Barons of the American Negro Leagues to the historic Giants franchise. From coast to coast to New York and San Francisco, Willie inspired generations of players and fans as the game was growing and truly earning its place as our national pastime.”

Mays had issued a statement Monday saying I couldn't attend Thursday's special Giants tribute game against the St. Louis, which will be played at Rickwood Stadium in Birmingham, Alabama, in commemoration of Mays and the Birmingham Black Barons of black leagueswith whom Mays began his professional career in 1948.

MLB said Thursday's game will now include a “pregame ceremony honoring the life of Willie Mays.”

Dubbed the “Say Hey Kid,” Mays spent most of his career playing center field for the Giants, first in New York and then after the team moved to San Francisco. During Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, the only championship he would win, Mays made “The Catch,” an over-the-shoulder hook on a ball that is still considered the greatest catch in the history of the game .

From then on, Mays was a cultural icon.

As a child, Mays learned to play baseball from his father, Cat Mays, in Westfield, Alabama. A single father and steel worker, Cat played on the local steel mill's baseball team and found time to teach his son to play the game he himself had aspired to play professionally.

At the age of 16, Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons. After graduating from high school in 1951, he was signed by the New York Giants.

“I got to New York City on a Friday at 4 o'clock,” Mays recalled during his Hall of Fame induction ceremony in 1979. “Scared to death with three bats in my little briefcase, my glove, he had no uniform, he had no hat.”

It didn't take long to find his footing. Mays was named National League Rookie of the Year after his first season.

His career was interrupted in 1952 when he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. He was assigned to Fort Eustice in Virginia and spent most of his time playing on military baseball teams, according to the Society for American Baseball Research.

He was released in March 1954 and rejoined the Giants for what would be a championship season, in which he also won his first of two MVP awards.

He moved with the team to San Francisco in 1958, led them to a World Series appearance in 1962—losing to the New York Yankees in seven games—and became the team captain in 1964 .He won his second MVP award in 1965.

Mays was traded to the New York Mets for the 1972-73 season, which would be his last.

He finished his playing career with 660 home runs, sixth all-time.

He was a 24-time All-Star, tied for second most all-time, and won 12 Gold Glove awards.

Mays was a first-ballot Hall of Famer, receiving 97% of the vote when he became eligible in 1979.

Despite the Giants trade, for the rest of his life he always had a special place for himself in the San Francisco club, where Mays' visit often inspired younger players.

In 2000, an iconic statue was erected in his honor outside what is now called Oracle Park. The statue is surrounded by 24 palm trees, in tribute to his number 24, which was also retired by the organization. The statue is a small reminder of a man who was long considered baseball's greatest living legend, even if it wasn't necessarily a label he cared about.

“I never like that,” he said in 2011. “If you're the best ball player, you say, 'You're the best ball player.' It's not the 'living ballplayer' what's the point of that when I first heard it I was like, “Wait a minute men, I have to die before you give me credit for doing anything?”

But over the years, Mays' combination of speed, power and defense led many to consider him the greatest of all time, living or dead.