Trade to Mets brings Mays back to New York
On May 11, 1972, the all-time great center fielder was traded to the Mets, following more than two decades in the Giants organization.
As fate would have it, Mays’ first game in a Mets uniform came against his former club – and Mays looked every bit the star player he’d been for the last two decades, delivering a game-winning homer to push New York past the Giants at Shea Stadium on May 14.
Mays would remain with the club for the next two seasons, batting .238, before retiring at the end of the 1973 campaign.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1979.
Janey Murray was the digital content specialist at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum
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