Willie Mays’ No. 24 Jersey Will Be retired by the Mets

CTN NEWS –   Willie Mays’ spent his final two MLB seasons with the Mets, making the All-Star team as a 42-year-old in 1973.

The New York Mets announced on Saturday that they had retired the No. 24 jersey once worn by Hall of Fame outfielder Willie Mays as part of their Old Timers’ Day ceremonies.

The Mets tweeted out the following video to accompany the news:

 New York Mets:  As part of today’s Old Timers’ Day ceremonies, we have retired Willie Mays’ No. 24.

Mays is best known, of course, for his time as a member of the Giants organization. He spent 21 of his 23 seasons in Major League Baseball with that organization.

He spent several seasons with the team in New York and a decade with them in San Francisco following their relocation in 1957.

The short version of the story goes something like this. The only member of the Giants board who voted against relocating to San Francisco was a woman and minority owner named Joan Payson.

She would later become the Mets owner, at which point she arranged to acquire Mays- her favorite player- in 1972 in exchange for pitcher Charlie Williams and cash.

Payson promised to take care of Mays

Payson promised to take care of Mays, and the Mets signed him to a personal service contract that paid him well into retirement. As the New York Times reported in 1973:

The Mets were understood to have sweetened his decision. They already are paying Mm $165.000 a year as an active player and are pledged to pay $50,000 a year until he reaches 50, whether he plays or not.

They reportedly will also cover the rent on his Riverdale apartment, a going‐away gift worth about $10,000 a year. Legend has it that Payson also told Mays he would be the last player in Mets franchise history to wear No. 24.

He wasn’t. (To be fair to Payson, she died just a couple of years afterward.) The Mets did resist handing out the number for close to two decades following his retirement, however, before awarding it to Kelvin Torve in 1990.

Willie Mays’ would appear in 135 games

Mays would appear in 135 games with the Mets over the course of the 1972-73 seasons. Though he was far removed from his statistical prime, he nevertheless batted .238/.352/.394, good for a 112 OPS+.

He accumulated 14 home runs and 1.6 Wins Above Replacement during that span, pushing his career totals to 660 and 154.5.

Mays’ No. 24 is the sixth number to be retired in Mets franchise history, joining Gil Hodges’ 14, Mike Piazza’s 31, Jerry Koosman’s 36, Casey Stengel’s 37, Tom Seaver’s 41, and Jackie Robinson’s 42. Mays’ 24 is also retired by the Giants.

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