Up for auction “Baseball Legends” Willie Mays & Ken Griffey Jr Hand Signed 10X8 Color Photo. ES-9168 Willie Howard Mays Jr. (born May 6, 1931), nicknamed "the Say Hey Kid " and "Buck ", is a former center fielder in Major League Baseball (MLB). Regarded as one of the greatest players ever, Mays ranks second behind only Babe Ruth on most all-time lists, including those of The Sporting News and ESPN . Mays played in the National League (NL) between 1951 and 1973 for the New York/San Francisco Giants and New York Mets . Mays is the oldest living member of the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame. Mays joined the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League in 1948, playing with them until the Giants signed him once he graduated from high school in 1950, then won the Rookie of the Year Award in 1951 after hitting 20 home runs to help the Giants win their first pennant in 14 years. After spending most of the next two years in the United States Army during the Korean War , he was named the NL Most Valuable Player (MVP) in 1954 after winning the batting title with a .345 average and hitting 41 home runs. His over-the-shoulder catch of a Vic Wertz fly ball in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series is one of the most famous baseball plays of all time. The Giants swept the heavily favored Cleveland Indians for the lone World Series triumph of his career, and the team's last title before relocating to San Francisco after the 1957 season. A 24-time All-Star , tying him for the second most in history, Mays became a perennial MVP candidate, finishing in the top six in the voting in eleven of the next twelve seasons. He led the NL in home runs four times and in slugging percentage five times while batting over .300 and posting 100 runs batted in (RBI) ten times each. In 1955 he made a run at the Triple Crown , leading the league with 51 home runs and finishing second in batting and RBI. He was the runner-up for the MVP in 1958 after hitting a career-high .347, and again in 1962 after leading the Giants to another World Series with 49 home runs and 141 RBI. By 1963, he was making over $100,000 a year, setting a record at the time with a $105,000 contract. He was again named the MVP in 1965 after hitting .317 with a league-leading 52 home runs, becoming the second NL player to hit 50 more than once and setting a franchise record that stood until Barry Bonds hit 73 in 2001. Mays was also at the forefront of a resurgence of speed as an offensive weapon in the 1950s, leading the league in stolen bases four times, triples three times and runs twice, with his 179 steals during the decade topping the major leagues; he was the first NL player to hit 30 home runs and steal 30 bases in the same season , and the first player in history to reach both 300 home runs and 300 stolen bases. He held the NL record for career home runs from 1966 until Henry Aaron passed him during the 1972 season, during which time he became the second player and the first right-handed hitter to hit 600 home runs. Mays also set standards for defensive brilliance, winning 12 consecutive Gold Glove Awards after their creation in 1957, still a record for outfielders; he led NL center fielders in double plays five times and assists three times. He ended his career with a return to New York after a mid-season trade to the New York Mets in 1972, retiring after the team's trip to the 1973 World Series . He served as a coach for the Mets for the rest of the decade, and later rejoined the Giants as a special assistant to the president and general manager. George Kenneth Griffey Jr. (born November 21, 1969), nicknamed "Junior " and "the Kid ", is an American former professional baseball outfielder who played 22 years in Major League Baseball (MLB). He spent most of his career with the Seattle Mariners and Cincinnati Reds , along with a short stint with the Chicago White Sox . A member of the Baseball Hall of Fame and a thirteen-time All-Star , Griffey is one of the most prolific home run hitters in baseball history; his 630 home runs rank as the seventh-most in MLB history . Griffey was also an exceptional defender and won ten Gold Glove Awards in center field . He is tied for the record of most consecutive games with a home run (eight, with Don Mattingly and Dale Long ). Griffey signed lucrative deals with companies of international prominence like Nike and Nintendo ; his popularity reflected well upon MLB and is credited by some with helping restore its image after the 1994 labor dispute . Griffey is one of only 31 players in baseball history to date to have appeared in major league games in four different calendar decades . Following his playing career, Griffey joined the Mariners' front office as a special consultant. He was inducted into both the Mariners' Hall of Fame and the Reds Hall of Fame. In 2016 , Griffey was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame, receiving 99.32% of the vote, breaking pitcher Tom Seaver 's record of 98.84%, a record that had stood for 24 years.
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