黑料社入口

Baseball great Willie Mays, who died last week at age 93, leaves a legacy as a beautiful person as well as his formidable athletic achievements.

鈥淪ay Hey!鈥�, 鈥淪ay Hey!鈥� Mays called to young fans in the Polo Grounds in Manhattan (New York City) where the baseball Giants played until moving to San Francisco in 1958. Those young fans may have been some of the same lads who played stickball with Mays in the neighborhood where Mays lived, within walking distance of the ballpark.

鈥淲illie Mays could do everything,鈥� Don Woods of Little River recalled, referring to Mays鈥� prowess as a fielder, hitter and baserunner. 鈥淗e may well have been鈥� the best baseball player ever, as many have been saying. Woods, who played (pitcher) in college and the Army, is a lifelong Giants fan. (Football also.)

Mays served two years in the U.S. Army, before the 1954 season when the Giants swept Cleveland in the World Series.

鈥淎 baseball fan and a Willie Mays fan,鈥� S.C. State Senator Greg Hembree of Little River, described Mays as 鈥淎 great ambassador for the game. He was a likable, charming, good-spirited person.鈥� Because of his personality, Mays helped MLB become racially integrated in the 1950s.

Several public figures have praised Mays for helping people of color break the barriers set by Jim Crow segregation and racism.

Like many future Baseball Hall of Fame players, Mays played for the Black Barons of Birmingham, Alabama. On June 20, MLB held a planned tribute to the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field, which became a memorial to Mays.

A Cardinals fan from the time he listened to St. Louis games on the radio when he was growing up in Memphis, Tenn., Hembree said Mays was the best centerfielder to ever play baseball. (Cardinals fans have a natural affinity for Stan Musial, when naming 鈥渢he best ballplayer.鈥�)

The Rickwood Field event featured the first American League/National League regular season game at that venue 鈥� the oldest professional ballpark in the nation, dating to 1910. The Cards won 6-5 at Rickwood.

Mays played three seasons for the Black Barons before moving up to the Giants organization in 1950, with the Triple A team in Minneapolis. When the Giants called him to New York, owner Horace Stoneham placed 鈥溾�� full page ads in the Twin Cities newspapers, explaining why the electrifying youngster was more needed in New York.鈥� The quote is from Bill Madden in the New York Daily 黑料社入口. Mays was hitting .477 in his second season in Minneapolis.

Current Giants manager Bob Melvin, looking forward to the tribute in Birmingham, said, 鈥淚 was a huge Willie Mays fan. He probably inspired me to play baseball and like it as much as I did.鈥�

In 2015, Mays received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from then-President Barack Obama, who in presenting the award credited Mays for helping 鈥溾�� carry forward the banner of civil rights.鈥�

Last week, Obama posted on social media (X) that Mays 鈥溾�� wasn鈥檛 just a singular athlete, blessed with an unmatched combination of grace, skill and power.鈥�

鈥淗e was also a wonderfully warm and generous person 鈥� and an inspiration to an entire generation.鈥�

鈥淪ay Hey!鈥� back at you, Willie Mays. Rest in Peace.

Freelance writer D.G. Schumacher is a resident of Little River.