SAN FRANCISCO — An estimated 4,500 fans celebrated the life of Willie Mays at the Giants' Waterfront Ballpark on Monday afternoon, joining friends, family and countless others, including Hall of Famers, Lifetime Achievers and political elite.
Former President Bill Clinton made a surprise arrival just as the event was getting underway on the infield at Oracle Park. Addressing the crowd, he called himself a “designated fan” who felt lucky to have spent time with Mays. Former President Barack Obama, who invited Mays aboard Air Force One during his presidency, recorded a message that was played on the video board.
MLB Commissioner Rob Manfred said Mays “embodied greatness like no other.” Former Giants star outfielder and manager Felipe Alou, 89, overcame travel challenges to attend the memorial from Florida and stood at the microphone and said, “I have two minutes. I need two months.”
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Former San Francisco Mayor Willie Brown drew laughter from the crowd when he said, “Nobody in this city liked the Giants until Willie Mays came along.” One of the final speakers of the afternoon, Mays' godfather, Barry Bonds, ended his speech with a halting voice and pointed to the sky: “Like I said about my dad, thank you, Willie. Thank you.”
Juan Marichal, Alou, Reggie Jackson, Rickey Henderson, Dusty Baker and Dennis Eckersley all received ovations as they were introduced from the infield. Recent Giants players, including Buster Posey and Hunter Pence, also received large ovations. Film director Spike Lee also showed up wearing white-rimmed glasses and a throwback Mays jersey.
But Mays' most important guest, perhaps his most treasured, didn't appear until the final speaker, his son Michael, finished speaking, when the center-field gates slid open and dozens of kids ran out onto the grass to play catch.
Jr. Giants players play catch on the field during a memorial service for Willie Mays. (Maddy Harrell/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)
All the testimonials and tributes make it clear that nothing was more important to Mays than putting smiles on young people's faces and making them succeed.
That's why I changed out of my uniform and into street clothes after Giants games and played stickball on the streets of New York. That's why I invited neighborhood kids over for ice cream parties. That's why I supported the Boys & Girls Club and the Willie Mays Scholars program. That's why I did something even more impossible than hitting 660 home runs or playing basket catches in the depths of the Polo Grounds while playing most of my career at windy, cavernous Candlestick Park: I extended what was supposed to be a lifetime contract with the Giants.
Mays wanted to give more, so he asked for a bigger grant.
“Either way, it all comes down to the kids,” Mays told club president Larry Baer.
Candlestick Park and the Polo Grounds were destroyed. The stage for Mays' greatness no longer exists. Mays never played in the waterfront ballpark at 24 Willie Mays Plaza that marked the occasion of his life's celebration. But as the sun began to set, a golden, sideways light seemed to purposefully shine a spotlight on center field. This was a place too late for Mays to showcase his greatness. But his appeal and influence was so strong it would last for generations. It's easy to imagine Mays lining up outfielders here, gliding through the gaps to catch the ball here, flying around the bases here, his cap flying around first base.
“I would have loved to have seen Willie Mays play center field here,” said former teammate Joe Amalfitano, who lent Mays his bat the day Mays hit four home runs in Milwaukee. “If he had played center field, this would have been Death Valley.”
Giants Hall of Fame announcer and host John Miller began his speaking schedule by sharing his memory of one of Mays' incredible feats: scoring on a bunt from first base.
Mays hit a single and, with the Philadelphia Phillies playing infield defense against Willie McCovey, third base was open. McCovey made a surprise bunt to the left side, and Mays sprinted around second base and continued around third base. The best part, Miller said, was the situation. It was the second game of a doubleheader, the first of which had gone 13 innings, and Mays was three days shy of his 39th birthday in 1970.
Mays accomplished something late in his career that some of the most talented players in history could only dream of in their prime.
Miller said he asked Mays about the play years later. He wanted to know if McCorvey had made the sign. Otherwise, would he have been able to take that big jump and have the awareness to keep going without the foresight?
Of course, Mays' awareness and foresight were unmatched. He didn't need a sign. “I would have called a timeout, run to home plate and told him to forget it,” Mays said, according to Miller.
“That's the secret,” Miller told the crowd, “Not only was he talented, he took care of himself. And he might have been the smartest player of all time.”
Dusty Baker, Joe Amalfitano, Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou and John Miller speak during the ceremony. (Tony Avellar/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)
Several themes recurred throughout the 15 speeches interspersed between musical interludes in a program that ran nearly 45 minutes over its scheduled time, one of the most prominent being that, for all his unique versatility, Mays' accomplishments and global impact were much more than that.
“Willie Mays gave me the opportunity to realize what true greatness is,” Clinton said. “That strange combination of intellect, dedication, will to win and the radical humility to believe that hard work is the prize is a gift he left to all of us and I hope we can all share and cherish it.”
Brown cited Mays' influence on housing policy after enduring racial discrimination while trying to buy a home in San Francisco in the 1960s, and Clinton spoke of Mays' powerful appeal, attracting fans of all colors and ethnicities on both coasts at the height of the civil rights movement.
“He wasn't just incredibly talented, he was incredibly intelligent,” Clinton said. “He understood the game he played, the game he loved, and he understood what he had to do to get better and how to help other people. And he helped open the minds of people who might have otherwise missed an opportunity to be a little better, and to join us in our eternal mission to make our union more perfect.”
“The effort is the prize.”
Powerful Statement @Bill Clinton On Willie Mays' legacy: pic.twitter.com/FzsqIIgrk8
— SF Giants (@SFGiants) July 9, 2024
President Obama's recorded remarks lasted four minutes and touched on Mays' greatness on the field and his legacy as a pivotal figure in American history.
“Black and white, everyone appreciated Willie's irrepressible passion, hard work, and innate dignity and kindness,” Obama said. “Willie's popularity changed racial attitudes in ways that political speech never could. It forced people to rethink how they viewed their fellow man and the need for true equality, and helped pave the way for the civil rights revolution that led us to a more perfect union.”
“There aren't many athletes who can claim that kind of influence. Really, Willie Mays' career was one of the foundations for a guy like me to even consider eventually running for president of the United States. So I consider it one of the great joys of my life to have had the opportunity to know Willie over the years and express my gratitude to him.”
Message from the President @Barack Obama pic.twitter.com/uUBd88vKXA
— SF Giants (@SFGiants) July 9, 2024
Perhaps the most heartfelt comments came from people whose names never appeared on the MLB score: three of Mays' closest friends, Jeff Bleich, Malcolm Heinicke and Dr. Phil Sadler, who offered personal memories and anecdotes about the star's post-baseball life.
Heinicke called Mays “the king of the one-liner” and told the story of attending a fundraising social where Mays spent two hours shaking everyone's hand, signing everyone's autograph and answering every inquisitive question. When asked how he stays healthy and trim at his advanced age, Mays pointed to his untouched plate of steak and fries.
“You all ask me so many questions,” he said. “I don't have time to eat.”
“If there was a Gold Glove for joy, Willie would get the Platinum Glove with diamonds,” Heinicke said. “You fans were his lifeblood, and you gave him as much joy as he gave you joy.”
Mays was the son of a foundry worker in Westfield, Alabama, and graduated from his local high school with a degree in dry cleaning. That diploma could have symbolized all the opportunities he missed and everything he had to overcome to succeed in life. But Mays had it framed and hanging on the wall of his home in Atherton, California. As a teenager in a now-defunct industrial town, where baseball and dry cleaning were his only opportunities, Mays would go on to meet every living US president and the Queen of England.
What he valued most, according to Bleich and Heinicke, were “people who wanted nothing from him but friendship.”
Bonds, one of five major league players to hit more home runs than Mays, fought back tears behind his sunglasses as he talked about his Godfather.
“Willie taught me about baseball. He gave me so much, like a second son,” Bonds said. “Guidance, unconditional love and, of course, a pep talk when I needed it. And he also loved me like a father. But as I turned 60 in July, I didn't realize until all these years later what Willie really gave me: memories that last. Memories that last.”
Willie Mays' Gift Barry Bonds pic.twitter.com/Ur8ITOeLcg
— SF Giants (@SFGiants) July 9, 2024
“I feel like a rookie facing Marichal,” Mays' son Michael said at the end of the show, delivering a clever one-liner in which he told Clinton he'd play a bit of saxophone when the jazz duo performed between speeches.
“'Say Hey Kid,' where third base dies, the man who invented the All-Star Game, the man who never meets a stranger – there are hundreds of quotes about my father over the years, but there is only one Willie Mays,” Michael Mays said. “He says the game is played for the 25th person, the person who needs it the most, and when you get nine, you win. That's the Willie Mays analysis.”
“For most of you, you are here to say goodbye and make amends, but not for me. His presence is felt everywhere. The constant outpouring of love you all have for him fills me with pride and energy. I am in duty and good company to further his mission of helping those who need it most.”
“One child at a time.”
(Top photo: Tony Avellar/San Francisco Giants/Getty Images)
