Cool Old Photos Show Willie Mays As You've Never Seen Him, I.E. Starting A Pillow Fight

Today, as they tend to do, the LIFE photography archives released a beautiful selection of never-before-seen photographs. The new collection, released 60 years to the day after Willie Mays' major league debut on May 25, 1951, is of the Hall of Famer's earlier years as a professional baseball player. There are many more photos (by Loomis Dean, Alfred Eisenstaedt, and Ralph Morse) over at the ; this one, of Mays pelting Monte Irvin with a pillow in their hotel room, is an obvious favorite. "I've got a couple of kids, 6 and 10 years old," Irvin said to LIFE in 1954, "but when I take a road trip I've got another one on my hands. That Willie is 23 years old and he'll drink maybe seven big sodas and a dozen Cokes in 12 hours."

Never-Seen Photos: Willie Mays [LIFE]