Editing Willie Mays (section)

====Record-setting contract====
Before the 1963 season, Mays signed a contract worth a record-setting $105,000 per season ({{Inflation|US|105000|1963|fmt=eq|r=-4}}).<ref>{{cite book |last1=Linge |first1=Mary |url=https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/willie-mays-mary-linge/1007343594 |title=Willie Mays: A Biography |publisher=[[Greenwood Publishing Group]] |year=2005 |isbn=978-0313334016 |page=151 |access-date=August 5, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805105512/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/willie-mays-mary-linge/1007343594 |archive-date=August 5, 2023 |url-status=live}}</ref> On July 2, when Spahn and [[Juan Marichal]] each threw 15 scoreless innings, Mays hit a 16th-inning home run off Spahn, giving the Giants a 1–0 victory.<ref>{{cite web |date=July 2, 1963 |title=Milwaukee Braves vs San Francisco Giants Box Score: July 2, 1963 |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196307020.shtml |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210107091357/https://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/SFN/SFN196307020.shtml |archive-date=January 7, 2021 |access-date=March 27, 2018 |website=[[Baseball Reference]]}}</ref> He considered the home run one of his most important, along with his first and the four-home-run game.<ref>[[#Hirsch|Hirsch]], p. 404.</ref> In August, he won his third NL Player of the Month Award after batting .387 with eight home runs and 27 RBI.<ref name="Player of the Month"/><ref>{{cite web |title=Willie Mays 1963 Batting Game Logs |url=https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=mayswi01&t=b&year=1963 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200622214514/https://www.baseball-reference.com/players/gl.fcgi?id=mayswi01&t=b&year=1963 |archive-date=June 22, 2020 |access-date=August 13, 2020 |website=[[Baseball Reference]]}}</ref> He hit his 400th home run on August 27 against the [[St. Louis Cardinals]], the tenth player to reach that mark. Mays finished the 1963 season batting .314 with 38 home runs and 103 RBI, stealing only eight bases, his fewest since 1954.<ref>[[#Barra|Barra]], pp. 317–318.</ref>

Normally the third batter in the lineup, Mays was moved to fourth in 1964 before returning to third in subsequent years.<ref>[[#Mays|Mays and Sahadi]], p. 238.</ref> On May 21, Dark named Mays the Giants' captain, making Mays the first African-American captain of an MLB team. "You deserve it," Dark told Mays. "You should have had it long before this."<ref>[[#Hirsch|Hirsch]], p. 413.</ref> Against the Phillies on September 4, Mays made what Hirsch called "one of the most acrobatic catches of his career". [[Rubén Amaro Sr.]] hit a ball to the scoreboard at Philadelphia's [[Connie Mack Stadium]]. Mays, who had been playing closer to home plate than normal, ran at top speed after the ball. He caught it in midair and had to kick his legs forward to keep his head from hitting the ballpark's fence, but he held on to the ball. While he batted under .300 (.296) for the first time since 1956, he led the NL with 47 home runs and ranked second with 121 runs scored and 111 RBI in 157 games.<ref name="reference" /><ref>[[#Hirsch|Hirsch]], p. 421.</ref>