Nancy Pelosi Wishes Willie Mays Happy Birthday, By Sharing Picture Of Not Willie Mays

House speaker Nancy Pelosi wanted to wish Willie Mays a happy 90th birthday. She posted a picture of herself and Willie McCovey instead.

But say hey, at least McCovey played in the same era as the Mets legend Mays. After being raked across the social media coals for a quick minute, Pelosi reposted the tweet, finally with an actual picture of herself and Mays.

McCovey died in 2018 at the age of 80 years old. Mays turned 90 on Thursday.

"It’s unclear how long the mistake existed on the Speaker’s Twitter timeline," the New York Post wrote. "Her office swiftly fobbed the issue off to a staffer error."

It's true. Eventually, Team Pelosi fessed up to the mistake, releasing a statement that was posted by KCBS radio.

“A staffer inadvertently selected the wrong photo for the tweet,” the statement read. “The photo we wanted to use was of the Speaker and Willie Mays at Willie McCovey’s August 2018 wedding. The quickly deleted photo was the wrong photo from the right wedding. We apologize for the error.”

Written by
Sam Amico spent 15 years covering the NBA for Sports Illustrated, FOX Sports and NBA.com, along with a few other spots, and currently runs his own basketball website on the side, FortyEightMinutes.com.