What A Catch: Willie Mays Collection Going To Auction To Benefit Say Hey! Foundation
Tuesday, July 8, 2025 at 02:16PM By Barry Janoff
July 8, 2025: Willie Mays keeps on winning, even after his passing.
Hunt Auctions said it is handling a live auction event offering the personal collection of National Baseball Hall of Famer Mays, who passed away in June 2024 at the age of 93.
As per Mays' wishes, all proceeds from this auction will “go to delivering education, training, and health services for youth through the Say Hey! Foundation, which Mays founded in 2000.”
The auction is scheduled for Sept. 27, 2025 at the King Street Warehouse event space, located adjacent to Oracle Park, home for MLB’s San Francisco Giants.
Among the items are his 1954 New York Giants World Series ring (Est. $500,000-$1,000,000); his 1954 NL MVP Award (Est. $250,000-$500,000) and 1965 NL MVP Award (Est. $250,000-$500,000); his 1973 New York Mets NL Championship Ring (Est. $50,000-$100,000); and a rare 1962 Babe Ruth Sultan of Swat Award Crown (Est. $75,000-$150,000).
Also part of the auction: a 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI, custom made for Mays with personalized label (Est. $50,000-$100,000).
"For all of his extraordinary achievements as a baseball player, Willie Mays wanted his enduring legacy to be helping children," Jeff Bleich, Mays' friend and chair of the Say Hey! Foundation, said via the organization.
"Willie believed that every child deserves the chance to make the most of their talents. He was always looking out for kids, often taking time to play stickball with neighborhood children even when he was playing major league ball for the Giants.”
The Say Hey! Foundation was 
established by Mays to give "children in communities across America an equal chance to achieve their own true potential, beginning with the communities that first nurtured Willie Mays — from Alabama to New York to California and those communities where the need is greatest."
According to Bleich, “He preserved his most treasured awards so that one day he could pay it forward. He wanted to share these items with his fans so that together they could raise as much as possible to support other kids starting out in life the way he had.
"His one instruction to Dave Hunt (president) at Hunt Auctions was 'make this the best auction ever to help those kids.”
During his MLB career between 1951 and 1973, Mays collected 3,293 hits, 661 home runs, 1,909 RBIs, two NL MVP Awards, 1954 World Series championship, 12 NL Gold Glove awards, and 24 NL All-Star team selections.
He was named to the MLB All-Century Team, and inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.
He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
The city of San Francisco celebrates every May 24 as Willie Mays Day.
Of his career, Mays himself said, “Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.”
“We are deeply humbled and grateful to Willie Mays for having been selected to represent this important offering of his personal collection.” said Hunt via Hunt Auctions.
“Willie embodies the American success story from his humble beginnings in Fairfield, Alabama through his ascension to become the greatest all-around player in the history of the game of baseball. Perhaps more impressively, Willie lived a life of service matched by very few.
“Willie has ensured his generosity will continue long into the future with the wonderful work that his Say Hey! Foundation has accomplished with the proceeds of this auction going to help further that good work."
Mays 1954 MVPAccording to Hunt, "This auction will undoubtedly stand the test of time as one of the most important player collections ever to be publicly offered and may well become yet another “greatest all-around” event befitting of the iconic legacy of the Say Hey Kid.”
Several special event previews will take place in the San Francisco Bay Area in advance of the live auction.
The first public display of the collection will occur at the National Sports Collectors Convention in Chicago, July 30-Aug. 3, 2025.
Following the live auction Sept. 27 in the King Street Warehouse, an Online Only offering for hundreds of additional Willie Mays Collection items is scheduled for Sept. 28, 2025.
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