Willie Mays, whose unparalleled array of skills made him professional baseball’s greatest center fielder of all time, has died. He was 93.

Passing details of Willie Mays

“My father has passed away peacefully and among loved ones,” said Michael Mays in a statement released by the Giants. “I want to thank you all from the bottom of my broken heart for the unwavering love you have shown him over the years. You have been his life’s blood.”

MLB Career

NBC News reports:

Nicknamed the “Say Hey Kid” for his boundless enthusiasm and penchant for greeting everyone, “Say hey,” Mays played for 22 big-league seasons, breaking in with the New York Giants in 1951 and then becoming a fixture in San Francisco when the franchise moved west. He ended his career back in New York with the Mets in 1973.

Mays was the sport’s consummate “five-tool” talent — he could hit for a high batting average, blast home runs, gallop around the bases, catch the ball and throw it with authority.

He recorded a .301 career batting average, slugged 660 home runs (sixth most all-time), banged out 3,293 hits (12th most), amassed 1,909 runs batted in (11th most) and scored 2,068 runs (seventh most).

Mays is credited with making the greatest defensive play in baseball history — an over-the-shoulder snag in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, capturing a drive off the bat of Cleveland Indians slugger Vic Wertz.

Mays sprinted into deep center and had his back to home plate, 425 feet away, when he made “the catch” on Sept. 29, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan.

Hall of Fame sportscaster Jack Brickhouse called the play: “Willie Mays just brought this crowd to its feet with a catch which must have been an optical illusion to a lot of people.”

The MVP award for the best player of the World Series was named after Mays in 2017.

Major League Baseball on Tuesday called Mays “one of the most exciting all-around players in the history of our sport.”

James M. Lawson Jr., a Methodist minister who became the teacher of the civil rights movement, has died.

He was 95.

Rev James M. Lawson Jr passes

Lawson died Sunday of cardiac arrest en route to a Los Angeles hospital, according to his son J. Morris Lawson III.

Civil rights activist

Lawson was born in Uniontown, Pennsylvania, in 1928, according to his biography by The Martin Luther King, Jr. Research and Education Institute at Stanford University.

For decades, Lawson worked as a pastor, labor movement organizer and university professor.

Recruited by the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Lawson trained hundreds of youthful protesters in nonviolent tactics that made the Nashville lunch counter sit-ins a model for fighting racial inequality in the 1960s.

Dubbed ad “the leading nonviolence theorist” by King, Lawson had studied Gandhi’s philosophy in India before joining the movement in the South. He led seminars throughout the region and became a gallivanting spokesperson for the Southern Christian Leadership.  Conference.

In 1968, he invited King to speak to striking sanitation workers in Memphis, where the captivating preacher was assassinated at the Lorraine Motel.

Lawson committed his life to civil rights, working with various groups in the South until 1974, when he moved to L.A. to become pastor of Holman United Methodist Church. He led the church for 25 years. He retired in 1999 but remained an activist for peace and social justice.

He also taught at the University of California Los Angeles’ college of social sciences, and university officials there called him “one of the most impactful social justice leaders of the twentieth-century.”

Unheard Voices is saddened to report that Brianna Greenwood, a beloved mother, daughter, sister, our cousin, and so much more to the community, has passed away.

She was 29 years young.

A tragedy that has affected the community

Brianna was tragically attacked with a machete by her ex-boyfriend at an apartment complex in Wall Township, N.J. on Thursday, May 23.

Despite life saving efforts and 18 hours of surgery, Brianna could not overcome the massive injuries she sustained.

The 29-year-old mother of two succumbed to her injuries Thursday, May 30th, at a local hospital.

Authorities alleges Brianna’s ex-boyfriend attacked her with a machete May 23 while one of her children was nearby.

Brianna Greenwood was a vibrant soul

A GoFundMe has been created to raise money for the family and Brianna’s two children.

“Brianna’s untimely departure serves as a stark reminder of the gravity of domestic violence. She, her children, and her family did not deserve to suffer at the hands of such cruelty,” the GoFundMe says.

“A vibrant soul whose life was tragically cut short by a senseless act of violence,” it continued.

Suspect charged for the death of Brianna Greenwood

Authorities have charged Brianna’s ex-boyfriend, Alex J. Williams, 24, with murder and other crimes related to her untimely death.

New Jersey machete attack

On Thursday May 23, around 9:22 a.m., Wall Township Police responded to the parking lot of the Glen Oaks Apartment Complex in Wall. Upon arrival, police found Brianna bloody and badly injured in the parking lot.

According to the affidavit, while EMS members were helping the victim, police found a man who fit the witness’s description sitting on a bench, and asked if he had just gotten into a fight with his girlfriend. He was then identified as Williams and was arrested without incident.

Previous domestic violence

Police say this is not the first domestic violence incident.

On Feb. 24, police were called to the victim’s home, where the victim said Williams had wrecked her home, stolen her phone and stopped her from leaving the residence or calling 911 during the dispute. Police said they saw obvious signs of damage throughout the home and scratches on the victim’s arms and hands.

In that case, Williams was charged with simple assault, criminal mischief, criminal restraint, theft and harassment in that incident, the affidavit said.

Brianna leaves behind her two children, 3 and 8, and a host of relatives and friends.