How Willie Mays, the “Say Hey Kid,” inspired generations with his talent and exuberance, on and off the field

Long after “The Catch” and its 660 home runs, and its daring sprints around the bases with its hat falling off, Willie Mays could still order a piece like no other.

Mays was a frequent visitor to the downtown San Francisco baseball stadium at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, with his statue outside the stadium. He often held court with his contemporaries and the younger generation of players who hung on every word spoken by a player they were too young to have ever seen play.

His authoritative voice and high-pitched laugh were recognizable everywhere. He was simply the “Say Hey Kid” from his days patrolling center field at the Polo Grounds in the 1950s, when baseball ruled New York City, until his death at 93 on Tuesday afternoon.

As Hall of Famer Ken Griffey Jr. said, “He will always be the godfather of all center fielders.”

There may be players who have hit more home runs, won more Gold Gloves, had more hits and won more World Series titles than Mays. But there has never been – and probably never will be – a player as dazzling and entertaining as he has been for more than two decades on both coasts.

With a hat too small that it flew off his head as he ran down the court and his iconic basket catch, Mays was a showman who could do it all as an accomplished “five-tool player.” Perhaps no one has combined the ability to hit for both average and power, run the bases, field and throw like Mays did in his career spent primarily with the Giants in New York and San Francisco.

“Willie could do anything from the day he joined the Giants,” Hall of Fame manager Leo Durocher said. “Mays could do all the things you look for in a player better than anyone I’ve ever seen.”

While Joe DiMaggio insisted on being billed as the “greatest living baseball player” until his death in 1999, that title had actually been held by Mays for more than half a century.

The numbers are staggering: 660 circuits, 3,293 visits, 6,080 total goals, 2,068 points scored, two MVPs and 24 All-Star Games despite missing nearly two full seasons during the Korean War. There were also 12 Gold Gloves even though the award wasn’t even presented in his first five seasons in the majors.

But it was his joy that was truly contagious and inspiring, whether on the streets of Harlem where he played catch with local kids before heading to the nearby Polo Grounds for his real job with the Giants or in the stadiums of baseball in the surrounding area. National League.

“You wanted to play like Willie and make the catches he made,” Yankees slugger Aaron Judge said. “The numbers he put up on the field and what he did are impressive, but him as a person and him as a human being is even greater. He was bigger than baseball. He was something special and the baseball world will definitely miss it.”

His greatness is best described by the respect his contemporaries had for him.

“He played the game like he was the only one,” Hall of Famer Ernie Banks once said. “His eyes would light up. His energy would kick in and he would be ready to go. I had the privilege of watching and playing against a great talent.

“He played so hard that it inspired me to come in every game. I couldn’t wait to play against the Giants and watch him.”

As a kid who loved baseball, President Biden says he was also inspired. “Like so many others in my district and across the country, when I played Little League, I wanted to play center because of Willie Mays,” Mr. Biden said in a statement Wednesday. “It was a rite of passage to practice his field goal catches, his daring steals and his command at the plate – only to be told by the coaches to stop it because no one can do what Willie Mays could do.”

Mays’ ability to inspire extended far beyond the baseball diamond. He was born in 1931 in segregated Alabama, began his professional career in the Negro Leagues and became one of baseball’s first black stars and the first black player in the majors to captain his team.

But he also endured racism as a minor in the previously all-white Interstate League and in San Francisco, when he and his wife were initially rejected while trying to buy a house in an upscale neighborhood .

But later in life he became almost universally loved.

“It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me was able to think about running for president,” President Barack Obama said as he presented Mays with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.

In his statement, President Biden said of Mays: “Not only did he entertain, but more importantly, he inspired millions of people of all races to help break the color line in sports and shatter the consciousness of nation. On this day, we remember Willie Mays as part of a long line of black patriots who helped us see a better version of ourselves as Americans and as a nation. »

Mays played out his career at a time when baseball was truly America’s pastime and the best baseball players were the biggest stars in all of American sports.

He was honored in Terry Cashman’s song “Talkin’ Baseball (Willie, Mickey & The Duke)” which recalls the great New York centerfielders of the 1950s with Mays, Mickey Mantle and Duke Snider in the 1955 classic Treniers: “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song”) which perfectly sums up his style:

“He runs the bases like a little train

Turns around the second like an airplane

His cap flies off when he goes third

And he returns home like an eagle bird. »