Willie Mays Passes at 93,Leaving More than a Legacy for Young People to Catch

by Bernice Elizabeth Green
Baseball legend Willie Mays passed Tuesday at 93, leaving more than a legacy for young people to catch.

Nicknamed “The Say Hey Kid,” the baseball center fielder who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball was regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time. For many who watched him play during his heyday and observed him off-field, Mr. Mays kept all his bases covered, bringing a special kind of grace and dignity to wherever he called home.

His arena included baseball fields in Birmingham, San Francisco, New York, and throughout the U.S., where he scored Olympian feats. He also was at home, and himself, in the company of a President who gushed appreciation for the giant’s role in laying a foundation for his ascension to world leader. Barack Obama awarded Mays the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

The “Say Hey Kid” made 24 All-Star teams, won two NL MVP awards and had 12 Gold Gloves. He ranks sixth all-time in home runs (660), seventh in runs scored (2,068), 12th in RBIs (1,909) and 13th in hits (3,293). Not to mention that over-the-shoulder catch (see video at MLB.com). But for Our Time Press, his greatness is preserved in black-and-white footage of Mays playing stickball with Harlem teenagers, in their neighborhood.

The film clips reflect how deeply Mays caught the hearts of those young people, as well as onlookers. We can only imagine that his slams on the street where they lived were as remarkable a feat to them, as his over-the-shoulder catch in the bottom of the 1954 World Series game was to the world.
So does Mays, who started his career in 1947 as a teen, resonate today with young people? In an interview with Our Time Press yesterday afternoon, Zabrina Adams offered her perspective on Mays’ importance. Ms. Adams was first interviewed in Spring of 2011 for OTP’s “A Field of Dreams in Bed-Stuy” by then-OTP reporter Steve Witt about a Herbert Von King Park Little League baseball team.

Witt’s story highlighted Von King Park’s “center of attraction,” the Little League Field, where the Inner City Sports Little League hosted a Minor Division game between the Diamondbacks and the Giants. Ms. Adams, the league’s Minor Division commissioner, told Witt how parents and elder relatives supported “one of Central Brooklyn’s most successful programs (where) several hundred kids from Brownsville, Bushwick, and Fort Greene gathered and encouraged each other, and everyone pitched in.”

Yesterday, Ms. Adams told Our Time Press, “Willie Mays was a historical figure for the African American community. Kids didn’t have that many heroes to look up to. He was prominent and showed his courage to pursue something he loved openly, and he lived a life that sent a message: Don’t stop. Don’t give up. Go after what you want.

“His example encourages parents to push their children to pursue different outlets, do as many things as possible, and realize there’s so much more in life. Even beyond their dreams.” Ms. Adams’ son went on to play with the Brooklyn Knights football team. At Christ the King Church H.S., he played football for four years.

“When you consider the climate where Mays excelled, and the racism that prevailed when we were considered ‘less than,’ it was tough, but Willie Mays pushed forward. He was fearless,” Ms. Adams told Our Time Press, “He showed talent, strength, and endurance. It’s so important for our children to feel they are part of this history. It’s so important we keep his story and legacy alive.”

Mays is being honored today with a Negro Leagues tribute game between the Giants and the Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, where he started his career with the Birmingham Black Barons.