This is an opinion tribute.
Willie Mays has been promoted to a seat high above Rickwood Field for Thursday’s baseball game that’s being played in his honor. As Joe Goodman writes: “The fateful timing is extraordinary if not divine.”
With the passing of Mays this week, Rickwood Field is now a cathedral to celebrate the life of baseball’s greatest player.
From Mark Inabinett’s story:
“When the San Francisco Giants and St. Louis Cardinals square off in a National League game billed as “MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues” on Thursday night, the program will include a pregame ceremony honoring the life of Willie Mays.
“The Alabama native and National Baseball Hall of Fame member died on Tuesday at age 93.
“One of the reasons that Major League Baseball chose Rickwood Field for its celebration of the Negro Leagues was its association with Mays, who played his first game as a pro there with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948.”
I’ve always considered Mays to be the greatest all-around player in baseball history. I’ve heard the late great Hall of Famer Joe Morgan discuss Mays as the best player ever because he could “dominate an entire baseball game.” On offense he was always the best hitter in the game. If he didn’t hit the ball out of the ballpark, he would create havoc on the base paths. And if he didn’t hit home runs or steal bases, he could still beat you with his glove and strong throwing arm on defense. He was the greatest centerfielder of all time. Mays was pure joyful electricity.
Wish I could have seen him play in his prime. (I don’t wish I was older, just wish he was younger.)
Al.com writer Creg Stephenson makes the case in his column. Here are some excerpts:
“There was little argument before Tuesday that Willie Mays was the greatest living player in baseball history.
“And after Mays’ death just two days before the MLB at Rickwood Field game between Mays’ Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals, the case certainly can be made that he is the greatest all-around player the sport has ever seen. Joe Posnanski, perhaps the most respected and thoughtful baseball history writer working today, thought so, listing Mays — born in 1931 in the Birmingham suburb of Westfield, and elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979 — at No. 1 on his Baseball 100 list of the greatest players in the sport’s history.
“Mays was in high school when he joined the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948, and just 20 years old when he debuted with the New York Giants in 1951. He was National League Rookie of the Year for the pennant-winning Giants that season, and NL MVP in 1954, when his iconic catch in Game 1 of the World Series — arguably the greatest defensive play in baseball history — sparked New York to a four-game sweep of Cleveland for the championship.”
Read Stephenson’s entire column here: The case for Willie Mays as the greatest baseball player who ever lived – al.com
Read Roy S. Johnson’s tribute column here: Never say ‘greatest living’ again; Willie Mays ‘best of them all,’ says Bob Costas – al.com
Read Joe Goodman’s tribute to Mays here: With fearless joy, Willie Mays changed America – al.com
Excerpts from Goodman’s column:
“I fought back tears searching for the right words to express the power of this moment for the city, for the state, for America and for the game of baseball that Mays was born to play.”
“Mays debuted for the New York Giants as a 20-year-old in 1951 and immediately helped carry the team to the World Series. “Say Hey” Willie Mays could do it all on the baseball field, but his larger-than-life persona was more than even the sum of five-tool talent. He was a showman of the highest order.
“Mays proudly brought the flair of the Negro Leagues to Major League Baseball and it changed the world.
Related: 12 Negro League All-stars every baseball fan should know – al.com
“Mays would wear his hat a size too small so it would fly off as he rounded the bases or tracked down a ball in the outfield. Mays perfected his famous basket catch while serving for the U.S. Army during the Korean War.
“Mays played the game with pure joy, and that was his greatest gift of all. It was the hands that made it all possible.
“What made Mays the greatest baseball player in the history of the game? Above all, I believe it was his hands. They were oversized and freakishly strong. I’m told that even into his 90s, Mays could squeeze someone’s hand and make their knees buckle. Those hands molded American sports for generations.”
Read all of Goodman’s column here.
There is no doubt this beloved icon left it all out on the field. The greatest to ever play this kid’s game played with the spirit and joy of a kid.
Mays didn’t need wings to fly when he played. But he’s got ‘em now. Rest in power and rest in peace, Willie Mays.
True stories and stuff by JD Crowe
Robert Plant head-butted me. Thanks, David Coverdale
I was ZZ Top’s drummer for a night and got kidnapped by groupies
Check out more cartoons and stuff by JD Crowe
JD Crowe is the cartoonist for Alabama Media Group and AL.com. He won the RFK Human Rights Award for Editorial Cartoons in 2020. In 2018, he was awarded the Rex Babin Memorial Award for local and state cartoons by the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists. Follow JD on Facebook, Twitter @Crowejam and Instagram @JDCrowepix. Give him a holler @jdcrowe@al.com.
