First time offered and privately owned for over 35 years, this 1971 road uniform of Willie Mays has outstanding provenance. This complete uniform along with other personal mementos was gifted by Willie to longtime personal friend ‘Jimmie Hayes’. Along with this uniform came his fielders gloves, turf shoes and other awards. Jimmie had also acquired other uniforms from the likes of; Bill Russell, Elgin Baylor and Oscar Robertson. Our consignor had the privilege of viewing this great collection and acquired them all during a private sale 35 years ago. It remains in the same condition as it was when Mays gifted it to his longtime personal friend, Jimmie Hayes. The Sports Investors letter states in part: photo matched Willie Mays wearing this jersey during the 1971 MLB season on April 28, 1971 and during a road game against the Cubs in May 1971. He also wore this jersey on August 9, 1971 during a home run contest against Harmon Killebrew and the Giants’ exhibition game versus the Twins. Mays won the home run contest over Killebrew by a score of 6-4, and the exhibition game saw attendance of twice the size of Twins regular season home games that season. Lastly, the jersey is an apparent match to May 25, 1971 – Mays’ 20th anniversary as a Giant. The historical significance of this uniform is as follows: this was Willie’s last full season with the Giants and perhaps one of the last road uniforms he wore during this season. The following season, Mays was traded to the NY Mets in April of 1972, ending his legendary career as a Giant. The uniform is in impeccable game-used condition, featuring all the custom tailoring and specifications requested by Mays. The jersey features custom tapering to both sleeves and under-arm gussets extending down both sides. Mays preferred tapered slim fit and this tapering has been seen in other Mays game-used jerseys. The jersey also features in the collar, a chain stitched name ‘Mays’, on a white felt strip tag. The bottom left tail also features the Wilson size 42 tag, along with a chain stitched ‘1971’ on white felt strip tag. ‘SAN FRANCISCO’ is arched across the chest and player number (24) is done on the back - both are done in black on orange tackle twill. The lettering in numerals, show soft puckering and game-used from a full season worth of game wear. Inside the waistband of the pants, is the Wilson size 32 label, with a tag attached which has his custom tailoring specs handwritten. Adjacent is a white felt strip tag, with ‘Willie Mays’ stitched in black and then another white felt strip tag with: 1971. The letters ‘OK’ are handwritten inside the waistband in black marker. The waist was taken in in two places, to accommodate Willie’s preference for a more tailored fit. Also, the custom tailoring was extended down from both legs, on both sides of each leg. As one could see, Mays preferred this custom tailored fit to enhance his muscular physique. Also, the pants exhibit the original crease down the front of each leg, as Mays would have worn for his last time. This uniform is of museum quality and condition, with outstanding provenance. This is an opportunity for the utmost discriminating collector to acquire a full uniform of perhaps the greatest complete player of all time. The flannel jersey is in superb condition with all original buttons with no damage or stains. The uniform is properly tagged, presented to us as game-used and in our opinion shows excellent wear. Accompanied by letters from both Sports Investors Authentication & Photo-Match.com, confirming the matches, as well as a letter from PM&G grading it a 10.