New York Giants’ Willie Mays, takes a batting practice swing on June 24, 1954, in New York. Major League Baseball said Tuesday, May 28, 2024, that it has incorporated records for more than 2,300 Negro Leagues players following a three-year research project. Mays was credited with 10 hits for the 1948 Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League, raising his total to 3,293.
But another version of the nickname’s genesis is that famed New York sportswriter Jimmy Cannon popularized it when Mays arrived in the minors. Whichever version is correct, the Mays biography states that the nickname was misunderstood. Mays did chant the words “say hey” for a record by a vocal group called the Treniers, but according to Hirsch’s biography, Mays told him he never used the phrase in any conversation.Purdy: Was Willie Mays the best baseball player ever? He was simply the best
That said, Mays approved of the nickname and even named his charity for underprivileged and disadvantaged children “The Say Hey Foundation.”