Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend

(From top) 1. The book 2. The most famous picture of Mays 3. Mays was an aggressive baserunner 4. A portrait during Spring Training, 1961

Last night I finished James S. Hirsch's biography on the baseball legend Willie Mays. This is a recent book, it came out in February, and is significant because Mays authorized the biography. Throughout his career Willie has been hesitant to trust the media and hasn't collaborated with the other authors who wrote books about him.

Last night I finished James S. Hirsch's biography on the baseball legend Willie Mays. This is a recent book, it came out in February, and is significant because Mays authorized the biography. Throughout his career Willie has been hesitant to trust the media and hasn't collaborated with the other authors who wrote books about him.

Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend is probably the most comprehensive book about Mays ever written. And when I say comprehensive, I mean it. Kirsch, former writer for The New York

Times and The Wall Street Journal banged out 556 pages for this behemoth. The book was amazing, it covered everything from Mays's days in the Negro leagues life as a child growing up

in Fairfield, Alabama, to his final seasons as a New York Met. Kirsch most likely meant to do America's greatest baseball player justice by not leaving anything out, but I can't see the book's

length helping sales. Nobody but an avid baseball fan would buy the book because its length is too intimidating. It's kind of a Catch-22 because everyone should know about the Say Hey Kid,

but it is just as important to get a full scope of Mays's life.

Willie grew up just outside Birmingham, Alabama during the 1940s and was raised by his aunt. At a young age Willie displayed extraordinary athletic prowess and excelled in baseball,

football and basketball. Later in life people recognized his quiet intelligence, but Willie was not cut out for college. He started playing baseball professionally in the Negro Leagues as a

teenager and was on the legendary Birmingham Black Barons. Even though Willie was raw, people recognized he would go on to bigger and better things. Little did they know that Willie

would eventually become one of baseball's biggest stars and a beacon of hope for aspiring black people in all of America.

When Willie Mays was only 19 years old he was signed by the New York Giants and joined one of their minor league teams. He tore through the minors, dazzling with his spectacular

defense, throwing arm and athletic ability and joined the team in 1951. He won the Rookie of the Year award and the Giants won the pennant behind Bobby Thomson's famous "Shot Heard

Round the World" home run to beat the Brooklyn Dodgers.

Mays lost 2 years while serving in the military, but his primary role was to play baseball and entertain. He returned to great fanfare in '54 and blasted 41 home runs, hit .345 and won MVP.

The Giants also won their only World Series with Mays on the team, and is the last World Series the Giants have won. Perhaps the most famous moment of Willie's career was in game 1 of the

World Series against the Cleveland Indians. In the 8th inning with the score 2-2, Vic Wertz hit a blast to the deepest part of the Polo Grounds, the New York Giants ballpark. Mays sprinted

back, caught the ball over his shoulder and all in one motion whirled and made a strong through back to the infield. The runner on second base only advanced to third and the runner on first did

not advance. Many see "The Catch" as the turning point in the Series and the greatest baseball catch of all time.

Willie Mays played 5 full seasons at the Polo Grounds in New York but because of financial reasons the Giants moved out west in 1958 to San Francisco. Willie's success at Candlestick is

seen as testament to his greatness, and a sad reminder of how well he would have done at a less windy ballpark. Willie played 14 seasons at the Stick and played with Willie McCovey, Orlando

Cepeda, Juan Marichal and Gaylord Perry. Willie Mays won his last pennant as a Giant in 1962.

The two best parts of Kirsch's book in my opinion are the way he captures Willie Mays's infectious spirit and all the individual moments of baseball brilliance in his career. Willie burst

onto the scene as a happy-go-lucky youngster and his genuine love of the game and carefree attitude spread to the rest of the players in the locker room. Mays described his attitude toward

baseball when he once said, "I'd play for free" and never drank or smoke and got to bed early. He was America's biggest sports star when he played and was a great role model for kids. When

he played for the New York Giants he could be found playing stickball in the Harlem neighborhoods with kids. Mays said that he could trust kids and related to their youthfulness.

He constantly visited hospitals without looking to gain publicity and even gave two of his young fans a ride to a game.

Before I read this book I had always known that Willie Mays was an immensely talented baseball player who hit 660 home runs, was a great fielder, was the "Say Hey Kid" and made

"The Catch." Besides that though, I didn't know any specifics about what made Willie so special. Here are a few specific examples of Willie's amazing feats.

There was, for example, the game on May 7 against the Louisville Colonels, (this is from Mays's stint in the minors) in which a bruising hitter named Taft Wright drove a ball over Mays's head. But Mays, according to game reports, 'literally climbed the rightcenter field wall to pick off Taft Wright's jet drive.' Mays later said it looked as though the ball was going to hit high on the fence, so he had to 'improvise' a way to catch it. (Kirsch 74)

Mays also brought the Negro Leagues' exciting and fast paced style of play to the plodding, home run focused style that was in favor at the time. Fans never before had seen baserunning antics like Mays displayed.

On a typical play in 1961, the Sporting News described what happened when Mays, on first, headed for second

on a single: 'Mays rounded second, feinted an all-out run into third, then feinted back toward second and provoked

a throw to second by Wally Moon. As soon as Moon lifted his arm to make the fatal mistake of throwing behind

Willie, Mays lit out for third and made it sliding.' (219)

After throwing up because of food poisoning the night before "Mays's hitting line was 4-for-5, with four homers, four runs scored, and eight RBIs. He also made the best catch of the

game." (342). Willie Mays tied the major league record with 4 home runs in one game.

I mostly included the baseball aspects of Willie Mays's life, but Kirsch goes into great detail about racial issues and Mays's role in them (he led by example, choosing to avoid controversy).

Leo Durocher, Mays's first manager, played a big role in his life and mentored the budding star. There's a chapter on barnstorming and a lot if written about Willie's extravagant living style and struggle to get out of debt (he did).