Willie Mays became a legend in New York, where he grew baseball, empowering others along the way
Willie Mays became an icon as soon as he returned to New York in 1954 after serving in the U.S. Army in 1952-53. He won NL MVP as a 23-year-old, and in Game 1 of that year’s World Series, he made perhaps baseball’s greatest catch at the Polo Grounds that helped win his lone championship.