Culture
MLB world reacts to Willie Mays' death

Major League Baseball and San Francisco Giants legend Willie Mays died Tuesday at age 93.
The “Say Hey Kid” performed with a showman’s flair, making basket catches in center field, taking daring chances on the base paths, winning four home run crowns, 12 Gold Glove Awards and laughing with a gleeful high-pitched voice.
Mays spent 21 of his 23 major-league seasons with the Giants organization in New York and San Francisco. He batted .301 with 660 home runs, 339 stolen bases and 3,293 hits and won two National League MVP awards.
Mays left an indelible mark on baseball, sparking many members of the MLB community to pay tribute to him at Tuesday night’s games and on social media.
He leaves us with a lasting reminder: to work hard and find joy in this great game, and this extraordinary life. Say Hey, Willie Mays. The best there ever was. 💐 pic.twitter.com/9QnpsDZM9B
— SFGiants (@SFGiants) June 19, 2024
I’ll never forget this day when I walked in and heard, “that’s that boy who wears his hat like this.”
RIP Willie Mays. You changed the game forever and inspired kids like me to chase our dream. Thank you for everything that you did on and off the field. Always in our hearts… pic.twitter.com/Xv2ZHbKFvt
— CC Sabathia (@CC_Sabathia) June 19, 2024
“I got to tell him he was the greatest player I ever saw”
Keith Hernandez recalls his meetings with Willie Mays pic.twitter.com/j6BEI063fk
— SNY (@SNYtv) June 19, 2024
An in-game tribute to Willie Mays at the MiLB at Rickwood game. 🧡🖤 pic.twitter.com/roKgNF3gQd
— MLB (@MLB) June 19, 2024
One of the best to ever play the game and even a better person. Thoughts and prayers are with Willie’s family and loved ones. https://t.co/kiyCbfBqOi
— Derek Jeter (@derekjeter) June 19, 2024
Willie Mays #24 was a legend amongst legends. I am blessed to have spent a few weeks around Willie and I can tell you this, baseball lived deep inside of his heart and he could trash talk with the best of them! Thank you Willie 🙏🏾🕊️ #restinparadise
— JIMMY ROLLINS (@JimmyRollins11) June 19, 2024
Say Hey, you were truly my idol, Willie.
You will be missed— Paul O’Neill (@PaulONeillYES) June 19, 2024
The @Cubs held a moment of silence at Wrigley Field for the passing of Willie Mays. pic.twitter.com/tlYm6sAARl
— Marquee Sports Network (@WatchMarquee) June 19, 2024
We are heartbroken to learn of the passing of Hall of Famer Willie Mays, one of the most exciting all-around players in the history of our sport.
Mays was a two-time MVP, 24-time All-Star, 12-time Gold Glove Award winner, and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
In… pic.twitter.com/kOqxNnetg7
— MLB (@MLB) June 19, 2024
We deeply mourn the loss of the great Willie Mays. Not only was he a phenomenal player, but he was also a tremendous human being. Here’s to you, Willie. Say Hey to Yogi for us. pic.twitter.com/H79GgpYMb8
— Yogi Berra Museum (@YogiBerraMuseum) June 19, 2024
Statement from Executive Director Tony Clark on the passing of Willie Mays pic.twitter.com/71vJaWhAPq
— MLBPA (@MLBPA) June 19, 2024
I’m devastated to hear about the passing of the legendary Hall of Famer Willie Mays, one of the main reasons I fell in love with baseball. Cookie and I are praying for his family, friends, and fans during this difficult time. 🙏🏾
— Earvin Magic Johnson (@MagicJohnson) June 19, 2024
He was a 24-time All-Star, a 12-time Gold Glover, a 2-time MVP, World Series champion, and a Hall of Famer.
The great Willie Mays has passed away. It was a privilege to know him. We were both honored by @MLB in 2010 with the Beacon Award, given to civil rights pioneers.
He was… pic.twitter.com/wdTTNUiEmt
— Billie Jean King (@BillieJeanKing) June 19, 2024
Willie Mays wasn’t just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power. He was also a wonderfully warm and generous person – and an inspiration to an entire generation. I’m lucky to have spent time with him over the years, and Michelle and I… pic.twitter.com/tpO3O9B9yc
— Barack Obama (@BarackObama) June 19, 2024
Quotes and anecdotes around MLB:
Ken Griffey Jr.: “My heart is on the floor,” the Hall of Famer told MLB Network. “I’m just grateful and thankful that I was able to spend the time I had with (Mays) because he is a true giant, on and off the field.”
Aaron Judge: The New York Yankees star outfielder and a California native reflected on meeting Mays.
“I have a family friend that is pretty close with his family,” Judge said. “I got a chance to meet him. He showed me a couple of things about throwing the baseball from the outfield, which I still remember. I have a couple of cool things that are signed in my childhood room still.”
Judge added: “Terrible, terrible news (of his death). I was a big Willie Mays fan. What he meant to the game, California, all of the Giants fans out there, especially me growing up, you wanted to play like Willie and make those catches that he did.
“The numbers he put up on the field and what he did are impressive, but him as a person and human being was even bigger. It was bigger than baseball. He was something special. The baseball world is definitely gonna be missing a great one.”
Mike Yastrzemski: “The things that he did, we’ll never see again,” the Giants outfielder said of Mays’ career. “He was such a talented player and he played the game as purely as anybody could. To be able to watch that on film — I’m glad there was film for it — because it’s something that’s going to be watched and studied for the rest of time.”
GO DEEPER
Giants react to the death of Willie Mays: ‘The things he did we’ll never see again’
Sergio Romo: “Every day he was very willing to give his time, to give his expertise, to give his advice,” Romo, a three-time World Series champion with the Giants, told NBC Sports Bay Area about Mays visiting the club. “He made you feel visible.”
Bruce Bochy: This game allows you to meet some tremendous players and people, and I got to spend a lot of time with Willie during my tenure (in San Francisco) and it’s a sad day,” the former Giants manager and current Texas Rangers manager said. “What a legend he is.”
Billy Owens: The Oakland A’s assistant general manager and a Bay Area native paid tribute to Mays in a text message to The Athletic’s Melissa Lockard.
“Say Hey was EVERYTHING…….Right there with Muhammad Ali as the Greatest,” Owens said. “The Excellence was Documented. The Style can never be duplicated. His power, speed and grace forever unique. The catch still captured the imagination almost a century later. Willie was New York(Polo Grounds) and San Francisco(Candlestick Park). I’ll watch Rickwood Field(Birmingham) this week and imagine Willie doing basket catches in Center Field and hitting homers into the Stratosphere. RIP Say Hey Willie Mays.”
Steven Kwan: The Cleveland Guardians outfielder and a Bay Area native said, “(Mays) was the face of the Giants. It was him and Barry Bonds and they would always be together. You’d see them talking. You wished you could be a fly on the wall for those conversations.”
Stephen Vogt: Cleveland Guardians manager Stephen Vogt’s grandfather lived in Oklahoma, and there were no MLB teams nearby. He chose the New York Giants as his team, mostly because he hated the Yankees and Dodgers. He loved watching Mays, and he’d prattle on and on about the center fielder to his son, Randy.
The Giants relocated to San Francisco in 1958 when Randy was three years old. The Giants became his team, and Mays was Randy’s hero. The family visited Candlestick Park every year.
Stephen grew up a Giants fan, too. The Vogts had season tickets in the upper deck down the left-field line. Stephen signed with San Francisco for the 2019 season. That spring, he met Mays. The two chatted in the clubhouse and took a picture together. Randy framed that photo, which sits on a shelf in his office.
“One of the people who was a god to you,” Vogt said of Mays. “It was just this unfathomable figure. You never really saw him on TV, (just) highlights. It was really cool to meet him and then get a chance to chat with him.”
Harold Reynolds: “Willie was like a father to all of us,” the former Seattle Mariners second baseman told MLB Network. “He was from that generation that was passing it on. … He had advice for you on every aspect of your life.”
Craig Counsell: “I’m saddened by the news about Willie Mays,” the Chicago Cubs manager said. “This is one of the Mt. Rushmore of baseball players in my opinion. A legend in our game. I got to meet him a couple times. He was the kind of person, along with Hank Aaron, that made you nervous because of how great they were. It was sad news to hear during the game today.”
Cody Bellinger: “I saw the news (of Mays’ death) in the seventh inning and was pretty saddened by it. Wearing the number 24 is special. He’s one of the best players in our game. Just seeing him around a few times on the field was a true blessing. An unbelievable guy and best wishes to his family right now.”
Bellinger wears No. 24 with the Cubs, the same jersey number Mays wore with the Giants and the New York Mets.
The Athletic’s Chris Kirschner, Melissa Lockard, Zack Meisel and Sahadev Sharma contributed to this story.
Required reading
(Photo: Michael Ochs Archives / Getty Images)

Culture
Try This Quiz on Disaster Movies Inspired by Books

Welcome to Great Adaptations, the Book Review’s regular multiple-choice quiz about books that have gone on to find new life as movies, television shows, theatrical productions, video games and more. This week’s challenge is focused on books about disasters — natural or human-made — that were adapted for the screen. Just tap or click your answers to the five questions below. And scroll down after you finish the last question for links to the books and their filmed versions.
Culture
As likely No. 1 WNBA Draft pick, Paige Bueckers is among new generation of young talent

Two Sundays ago, Paige Bueckers and Sue Bird gathered inside Amalie Arena in Tampa, Fla., as different points in their lives were celebrated.
Bueckers led a courtside coronation. The Huskies blew out South Carolina to win UConn’s first national championship in nine years. With the souvenir net draped around her neck after her final college game, Bueckers said she felt an overwhelming sense of joy and gratitude.
Bird also appeared grateful for her moment in the spotlight. She was present, in part, to co-host an alternate ESPN telecast with her best friend and former UConn teammate Diana Taurasi. But in the first half of the Huskies’ eventual 23-point victory, Bird received a warm ovation from fans as she was honored as a new inductee in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame.
That both Bird and Bueckers were in the same place at the same time was a fitting reminder of the current moment in women’s basketball. A new guard is entering the professional ranks while an older generation looks on — and receives acknowledgement — from the arena rafters.
Over the last three years, WNBA trailblazers like Bird, Taurasi, Sylvia Fowles and Candace Parker have retired from the league. Bueckers, who is expected to be selected with the No. 1 pick in Monday night’s WNBA Draft by the Dallas Wings, represents a potential pillar for its future.
Paige. Buckets. Enough said. 🏆
Paige Bueckers closed out her UConn career with a national title and the 2025 Wade Trophy. She was a 3x AP First Team All-American, a 2x Nancy Lieberman Award winner, and the 2021 National Player of the Year. Bueckers led UConn to four Final… pic.twitter.com/pARNMvO5DK
— WNBA (@WNBA) April 11, 2025
She joins last year’s top rookies, Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese, as cornerstones of the WNBA’s latest chapter. Who better to be a new baton carrier than someone who faced constant questions about pressure and legacy throughout her college career? As the WNBA attempts to build on its historic 2024 season, Bueckers’ arrival is as close as the league can come to adding another ambassador prepared to help compound its growth.
“It’s so popular right now, so it’s at a really good place,” Wings general manager Curt Miller said. “I’m excited about this draft class keeping the momentum going.”
Bueckers is used to high expectations. At UConn, she faced endless reminders of them. Chairs from each of the program’s Final Four appearances were in the Huskies’ practice gym. Banners for All-Americans and national titles hang on walls. Some Storrs, Conn., highway welcome signs denote how many championships the Huskies have won. After last week, that’s now an NCAA-record 12.
Bueckers is aware of each marker. She learned to refine her mindset and become more process-focused to manage. Over five years, she became the face of a college program that has an arguably higher profile than almost every WNBA franchise, navigating not only her own growing stardom but also a changing climate in college sports. She is part of a generation of college players who have conducted themselves like pros while still in school. Photo and commercial shoots become part of off days. She already has partnerships with Nike, Intuit, Google and Bose. And Friday, Bueckers — having never stepped foot on a WNBA court — was part of Ally’s promotional materials for becoming the official banking partner of the WNBA.
Eight days after finishing her collegiate career, Bueckers will officially turn the page in her story when she walks across the draft stage. She’ll almost certainly be headed to Dallas to join a franchise that lacks the same historic relevance as her alma mater. Though the Wings technically have three championships to their name, those titles belong to the Detroit Shock, which later relocated to Tulsa and eventually moved to Texas.
“I can’t begin to tell you how much this just injects energy, enthusiasm, as we head into the ’25 season,” Miller said in December after the Wings were awarded the No. 1 pick.
As a three-time All-American, three-time Big East Player of the Year and one-time Naismith Player of the Year, Bueckers can look to Clark as a road map through her rookie season.
The former Iowa star’s adjustment to the pros took only a few weeks. Clark exploded, adjusting to the WNBA’s physicality, finding her stroke and meshing with her teammates en route to an All-WNBA first-team season. The Indiana Fever returned to the playoffs for the first time since 2016.
“Much like last year when we thought Caitlin Clark’s game was going to translate right away, and for the most part it did, I think Paige’s game is going to translate right away,” UConn alum and Hall of Fame forward Rebecca Lobo said. “Caitlin and Paige are very different players. … But their impact can be just as significant.”
Teammates will feel Bueckers’ impact in games — she is a willing passer and will create even better looks for Dallas’ existing star guard Arike Ogunbowale. And it will be felt league-wide — the WNBA knows she’s a TV draw, with two Wings games on ABC this season after none last year.
In Dallas, team executives have also long recognized the impact the No. 1 pick would have. When the Wings won the lottery in mid-November, nine days after Miller was announced as their new GM, they also had yet to hire a coach. But that Sunday, when the ping-pong balls bounced in their favor, Miller knew it was transformative.
The Wings, who hired Chris Koclanes as their coach in December, were already in a growth moment when they learned of their good fortune. They had been planning a 2026 move from Arlington to Dallas, boosting their arena seating from around 6,000 to 9,000. A new practice facility was already in the works, too, and they added more national partners than ever last season. Dallas rebudgeted its ticket revenue three times in 2024 and sold two half-percent ownership stakes at a league-record $208 million valuation.
I woke up feeling like a traitor cause I was really clapping when a certain team scored??? 😭☘️ anyway, go wings lol. can’t wait for the draft. @DallasWings yall know what to do ❗️
— Arike Ogunbowale (@Arike_O) April 7, 2025
But in the same way that Clark supercharged interest in the Fever and Reese did for the Chicago Sky, Bueckers will likely provide a boost. Though Dallas’ total ticket revenue grew 44 percent year over year from 2023 to 2024, the franchise is projecting a 50 percent increase in total ticket revenue this season. The Wings have sold out their season ticket inventory each of the past two seasons, but they announced they did so in late November, just days after securing the No. 1 pick.
Bueckers, 23, is a known star. Off the court, she garnered headlines from appearances at the U.S. Open and New York Fashion Week. This season, the Huskies sold out their season tickets for Gampel Pavilion for the first time since 2004-05.
UConn’s blowout win over South Carolina was the third-most watched women’s basketball championship game, peaking at 9.8 million viewers, according to ESPN. The Sweet 16 round averaged 1.7 million viewers across ESPN’s networks, the second-most watched Sweet 16 on record behind last year.
Monday’s draft might also fall short of 2024’s record event, but it’s poised to remain noteworthy and could be the second-most watched W draft ever. Bueckers will hear her name called, share a moment with commissioner Cathy Engelbert and begin a post-draft circuit consisting of interviews and photo shoots.
As Taurasi said last season as Clark prepared for the WNBA, reality is coming. For Bueckers, this is true, too. But as a part of a wave of name, image and likeness stars who have already been the faces of a program and the sport, Bueckers is poised to be another success story in this era of historic WNBA growth. It’s impossible to be fully prepared for what’s next, but she is well-positioned to thrive.
Here’s a look at the order of Monday’s draft:
(Illustration: Demetrius Robinson / The Athletic; photo of Paige Bueckers: David Butler II / Imagn Images)
Culture
Would Paige Bueckers still be No. 1 if all college players were WNBA Draft-eligible?

As Sarah Strong dominated the South Carolina frontcourt during UConn’s national championship victory, gobbling up rebounds, protecting the rim and scoring from everywhere on the court, it was easy to imagine her also doing so at the next level. WNBA executives had to be drooling over the idea of drafting the next Huskies star.
But they’ll have to wait another three years. Under the collective bargaining agreement, which expires at the end of the 2025 season, American-born players are eligible to be drafted after completing four years of college. The one exception is that players can declare after their junior seasons if they turn 22 during the calendar year of the WNBA Draft. Since Strong has a February birthday, that won’t be an option.
As women’s basketball booms, players have more choices in shaping their careers, whether that’s in college via the transfer portal or professionally with new leagues. However, this is one decision that remains out of their control.
“I definitely think we should have the option,” USC star JuJu Watkins said on the “Good Game with Sarah Spain” podcast. “There’s just been such a growth in college basketball, where it’s like, why would you want to leave? Because you’re able to have that experience and build your brand here in college as well. I would say we should definitely have the option, but I think college is a way to prepare us for the pros as well. … It’s a touchy subject, but I’m for it.”
Although a change to allow players to declare early is unlikely, enough underclassmen are tempting pro prospects right now, headlined by Strong. Watkins, who has two remaining years of eligibility, would be a no-brainer lottery pick, even with a torn ACL that would keep her sidelined for this upcoming WNBA season. Madison Booker of Texas has a WNBA body and pull-up game, and her fellow SEC players Ashlyn Watkins (South Carolina) and Talaysia Cooper (Tennessee) also could be pro-ready.
There’s a world where JuJu Watkins decides to sit out the upcoming season, using both of her final years of eligibility, and enters the 2028 WNBA Draft that features Sarah Strong.
If you were a GM with the No. 1 overall pick, who would you choose? pic.twitter.com/AUixhKz3oc
— I talk hoops 🏀 (@trendyhoopstars) April 11, 2025
The idea of the age limit has historically benefited most parties, even if it diminished individual player agency. The WNBA is already the hardest league in the world to make and earn a second contract in, and it doesn’t behoove the current player pool to add more competitors for the limited roster spots.
Until recently, player experience was better in college than in the WNBA. It often didn’t make sense for athletes to sacrifice the ability to earn a college degree to pre-emptively join a league that didn’t pay that well. Certain players nevertheless took advantage of the opportunity to go pro after three seasons, including No. 1 picks Jewell Loyd and Jackie Young. Satou Sabally, the No. 2 pick in 2020, cited finances as the reason she left Oregon early, as she was in college before athletes could make money.
Foreign-born athletes don’t have to deal with the same age-related constraints as their American counterparts. Players born outside the U.S. can declare for the draft the year they turn 20, provided they don’t attend college in the NCAA system, presumably as a way to incentivize talent around the world to play in the WNBA. Those concessions have never been made for American players, who already grow up dreaming of playing in the league.
Now the WNBA has better accommodations, more lucrative salaries and a higher profile, but college sports also offer money from collectives and the ability to profit from NIL deals. Athletes are no longer missing out on their earning potential by being denied early entry into the professional ranks.
The league benefits from the age limit as well. In addition to rookies being more physically suited for the pro game, the NCAA is a fantastic marketing tool for the WNBA. Players come into the league with four years of national exposure and oodles of name recognition. Though casual NBA fans struggle to identify one-and-dones, most WNBA fans are intimately familiar with the likes of Paige Bueckers, Aneesah Morrow and Hailey Van Lith before they even play their first professional game.
As a result, even though a new CBA is being negotiated, don’t expect the age limit to be a point of contention.
“It has been mentioned; I don’t think it’s a high priority,” Seattle Storm guard Lexie Brown said on “The Ringer WNBA Show” last month. “Going out into the world at 18, 19 years old as a young woman with no degree to go play a sport with nonguaranteed contracts, it’s kind of a recipe for disaster.”
There is a reasonable discussion to be had about whether Bueckers would be the No. 1 pick if every player in college this season were draft-eligible. Strong’s overall game, combined with her youth, in a league that still runs through the post, makes her a tantalizing selection. Watkins’ prodigious skill and star power put her in that hypothetical conversation as well.
For now, this exercise remains theoretical. College basketball is still a more popular product, and the WNBA can afford to remain exclusive and close its doors to younger players with all of the talent that already exists within its ranks. The subset of players who could realistically make the jump early is limited — too small to rewrite an entire set of rules for.
(Photos of Madison Booker and Sarah Strong: Alex Slitz / Getty Images, Joe Buglewicz / Getty Images)
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