Willie Mays: More than a Baseball Player

Today another pillar of Major League Baseball has left us. His memory etched in our minds for generations. His legend as big as any ballplayer who ever set foot on baseball's spongy-grass surface.

Willie Mays was more than a baseball player. He was an icon who transcended the sport. Willie Mays passed away on June 18, 2024. He was 93.

Born Willie Howard Mays Jr. in Birmingham, Alabama, the "Say Hey Kid" as he would come to be known, began his career in the Negro Leagues, playing professionally for the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948. It is ironic with Mays passing on Tuesday night that baseball is returning to Alabama on June 20 to play at Rickwood Field in honor of the Negro Leagues. Mays' San Francisco Giants are playing in that game against the St. Louis Cardinals.

Suddenly this game takes on a new meaning.

MORE THAN THE NUMBERS

When you rattle off the stat sheet, Willie Mays is one of the most prolific players of all time. He crushed 660 home runs, hit .302, and amassed over 3,293 hits in 23 seasons. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979. He was the best of the best.

Mays played for the Giants for 22 years, with the first six seasons patrolling the Polo Grounds in New York City, just off the FDR Drive.

While the Bronx had its plethora of legends: The Babe, Mantel, DiMaggio, Gerhig. And Brooklyn had Jackie Robinson, Duke Snider, and Pee Wee Reese. The Giants had their mega star in Mays.

A Rookie of the Year title in 1951, and World Series Champion in 1954. Not to mention the greatest catch EVER in Major League history.

Of course, it wasn't easy. This was the mid-20th Century when racism and segregation was still a problem in America. Mays, like many African American ballplayers at that time faced it. And in the end, he beat those barriers with not only his play but class and dignity.

RETURN TO NEW YORK

After spending his prime years by the Bay in San Francisco for the Giants, Mays returned home to where his MLB journey began: New York. Mets owner Joan Payson - a long-time New York Baseball Giants fan - coveted the very idea of bringing Mays back, and she succeeded. In 1972, Mays returned, via trade - not to the Polo Grounds, but to Shea Stadium in Flushing Meadows to play for the Mets. He was a key member of the Amazin's 1973 National League Championship team.

Mays' number 24 is retired by both the Giants and Mets. The Giants retired his number in 1972; the Mets on Old Timer's Day in 2022.

In many ways Mays chronicled the lives of so many. He saw it all. In the years following his baseball career, he made numerous appearances in television and film, met numerous U.S. presidents; met Queen Elizabeth II in 1976 at the White House, and was a Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient of former President Barack Obama in 2015.

He also stood firmly by the side of his godson Barry Bonds, who despite what allegations you may believe on steroids, set the Major League Baseball home run record with their beloved Giants.

Not bad at all. A life well lived.

Rory McIlroy has undoubtedly been one of the most successful players in all of professional golf, for quite some time. There's no arguing that. But what happened to him Sunday at the U.S. Open at Pinehurst was just the latest in a string of heartbreaking losses.

We'll get to those heartbreaking moments in a minute, but first, it's important to note just how successful Rory McIlroy has been. Here's a look at some of his notable accomplishments:

You could honestly keep going on that list for quite a while. But you get the idea.

And before we get to what happened with McIlroy, it's important to give the 2024 champion Bryson DeChambeau a lot of credit here. His miraculous save from near-certain disaster on 18 clinched the win. Yes, he needed some help down the stretch to even be in that position, but it still takes a lot to win the U.S. Open, and he did it.

McIlroy has been close a lot lately. He had a chance to win the U.S. Open in 2023, but ultimately ended one shot back of Wyndham Clark. In 2022, he was tied for the lead going into the final round of the British Open, before falling to third. He also finished second in the 2022 Masters, but Scottie Scheffler wasn't going to be caught there.

Eleven times in his career, McIlroy has finished as a runner-up in a tournament. Another 11 times, he's finished third. He's had a whopping 78 top-5 finishes, and 123 top 10s! Yes, in 252 events, he's finished in the top 10 123 times.

But like we said, Sunday's DeChambeau win doesn't happen without some help. And Rory gave him a lot of that. There were a lot of moments that could have made a difference during the tournament, but there were five in particular that stood out on Sunday. So we're going to take a look here at the four moments that ultimately cost Rory McIlroy the 2024 U.S. Open at Pinehurst.

The par-5 fifth hole was a nearly must-birdie hole on Sunday, as it was the most likely place to have that happen. And a beautiful drive from McIlroy set up an incredible second shot that could have set him up for an eagle putt.

Instead, disaster struck. The second shot eeked along the edge of a steep drop on the green, and never made it quite over the hump. It rolled all the way back off, into a terrible lie on the native rough.

Still, from there an up-and-down would leave a birdie putt. But an up-and-down from that lie wasn't going to happen. The third shot skipped across the top of the bunker but rolled right back into it.

A clunky pitch out of the bunker led to a barely missed par putt and a bogey. It was so close to being a shot at an eagle, and instead, it was a stroke lost.

After birdies on 9, 10, 12 and 13, suddenly Rory was in the mix in a big way, leading by two. That's when one of the trickiest par 3s in the world struck.

McIlroy picked the wrong club, and clunked his tee shot over the green. His second shot was fast and left a long putt for par. It didn't fall, and his two-shot lead was down to one.

McIlory was able to regain his composure on the tee on 16. He drove perfectly into the fairway, and his second shot left him in a good position to at least two-putt for par.

That's when the unthinkable happened. An unthinkable 496 times before the 16th hole, Rory McIlroy had made every putt inside of 3 feet this year. But from 2 feet, 6 inches away, McIlroy missed and suddenly the tournament was tied again.

As if the unthinkable miss on 16 wasn't bad enough, then came 18.

McIlroy started with a drive into the native rough, which left him a difficult second shot. He did manage to save fairly decently into the area in front of the green.

An up-and-down from there would leave him with a par and a one-shot lead with DeChambeau playing the 18th. And Rory stuck the landing with his approach, leaving him just under 4 feet for par.

It's important to note that this wasn't just a random putt from 4 feet. There's a dramatic slope on the 18th green at Pinehurst No. 2, and after an exhausting 72 holes, it takes everything in you to read that and make it. Most of us reading this would be 50-50 at BEST on that putt.

Unfortunately for McIlroy, it was a miss, a bogey, and it left the door open for DeChambeau to have his hero moment on 18. Which he took.