Lest We Forget: Willie Mays

If you’re any kind of baseball fan, you already know by now of the passing of the Say Hey Kid. I was watching the Mets-Rangers game last night when Gary Cohen broke the news. He and Keith Hernandez — who became very emotional — spoke about the legacy of the man who had been the greatest living player. I’m guessing that honor now belongs to Sandy Koufax.

Mays was part of the most important question of New York baseball in the 1950s: who was the best center fielder, Mays, Mickey Mantle, or Duke Snider?

His death was or will be noted on the front page of ever major newspaper in the country and perhaps beyond. Richard Goldstein had the “honor” of writing Mays’ obituary for The New York Times. The website notes how long a story will take to read; the Mays piece weighs in at an astounding 15 minutes. I’m guessing the news came after the physical paper went to bed because there’s no mention of it on today’s front page.

Needless to say, this was the major topic on the opening page of the San Francisco Chronicle. (note: this link will only be valid today, I’m sure).

Meanwhile, the Washington Post, as part of its tribute, posted “The legacy of Willie Mays through his iconic baseball cards and career numbers.”

Mays’ passing was given major airtime on CNN last night and no doubt there will be specials on the MLB network among others. I’m wondering if there will be a push to retire his number across the majors, a la Jackie Robinson? At the minimum, I wouldn’t be surprised if players across the leagues will were memorial patches on their uniforms.

Dozens of books have been written about Mays, both individually or as part of a more general work about Hall of Famers or special moments (Arnold Hano‘s classic A Day in the Bleachers) or African-American players or baseball in New York. Many of these were written with younger readers in mind, but among my favorite adult titles:

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, by James S. Hirsch (2010)
Willie Mays: Art in the Outfield, by Mike Shannon (2007)
Willie Mays: My Life in and Out of Baseball, as told to Charles Einstein (1966). Here’s a funny story as per Bert Sugar’s Rain Delays about that collaborative effort.

“[A]t the end of the 1965 season, when [Charles] Einstein gave his subject a follow up call, after having taken notes with Mays throughout the season and after having identified himself over the phone, Mays said ‘Charlie who?’ When Einstein prompted, ‘You know, Charley Einstein, the fellow who is doing the book with you,’ Mays paused, then asked ‘What book’?”

Willie’s Time: Baseball’s Golden Age, by Einstein (2004). I’ve often heard that the “golden age” varies from person to person and generally encompasses the yeas when you were a kid and didn’t know sports was a business.
Mays, Mantle, Snider: A Celebration, by Donald Honig (1987). These legends were a major part of most baby boomers’ golden age.
24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid, by John Shea (Bookshelf Conversation here). Funny story: I asked the publisher of the audio book version to send me a review copy. They sent a case of 24. I still have most of them.

And of course there are the songs: