over the course of his hall of fame career, willie mays played for two franchises. he was honored after his passing on june 18, 2024 by three in the way of a memorial patch worn on their uniforms.
two days after mays passed away, major league baseball saw the giants and cardinals play a game in mays' hometown of birmingham, alabama. the rickwood field game was meant to salute the negro leagues and it expanded into a celebration of mays' life and achievements.
i assume that 2025 topps will have a card or two highlighting the game, but i went ahead and bought this topps now card of adam kloffenstein
because it clearly shows the "mays 24" patch that he and all of the cardinal players wore during the game. staying in the topps now lane, here's a card showing the patch that the mets wore to honor mays
mays, of course, finished his major league career with the metropolitans, and his number was retired by the franchise a couple of years ago. it was with the giants, however, that mays created his legacy as one of the, if not the, greatest baseball players of all time.
this 2024 topps update jorge soler rainbow foil parallel
shows the "mays 24" patch worn on the left chest.
each of these three teams wore additional patches during the 2024 season, but i will cover those in future posts.
mays had issued a statement a day or two before he passed away regarding his disappointment in not being able to travel to birmingham for the games, which included a minor league matchup between the birmingham barons and the montgomery biscuits on june 18th. it was during that game that mays' death was announced to the crowd, and it was a powerful moment to witness live.
another card in my collection that shows the giants' patch is hayden birdsong's topps now card
i picked this card up because it documents his appearance in a game that i attended in person
there was some debate after mays passed as to who took over the mantle of "the greatest living ballplayer". this was a title given to joe dimaggio in 1969 and i believe when dimaggio passed, ted williams became the unofficial bearer of the title. i don't recall if hank aaron claimed the title after williams died in 2002, but in 2015, major league baseball gave four players - aaron, mays, johnny bench, and sandy koufax - the title at the all-star game. so, is it now koufax or bench that we consider the greatest living ballplayer? or is there room for mays' godson barry bonds in the discussion?
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