Willie Mays bought a 15-room mansion in a New York City suburb to escape housing discrimination in San Francisco and remained under the radar, as rumors swirled about a crumbling marriage. When the New York Giants moved to the Bay Area in 1957, buyers didn't want to sell to Mays, despite his superstar fame, because owners 'stand to lose a lot if colored people move in,' Mays said in an interview, according to James Hirsch's biography about Mays' life.
New Rochelle, nicknamed the 'Queen City of the Sound,' is about 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan and is the seventh most populated city in New York state. Mays and his first wife, Margherite, were among the first Black families who moved into the upscale, secluded section of the north end of the city. The headline in The New York Times on May 28, 1960, read, 'WILLIE MAYS BUYS WESTCHESTER HOME; Neighbors in New Rochelle Welcome Negro Family to $75,000 Stone House.