SAN FRANCISCO – Barry Bonds and Michael Mays, the godson and son of the late and great Willie Mays, stood a few feet from one another before the Giants played host to the Cubs on Monday night.
Both watched their loved one be remembered and honored in the town Mays, who died last week at age 93, called home for over 60 years.
“I always wanted to be Willie Mays,” Bonds said in a pre-recorded statement that played on the video board. “Willie was just my idol. Willie was everything to me.”
Michael Mays helped escort a young man out to throw the first pitch, and Bonds caught the strike at the end of a pregame ceremony.
Giants broadcaster Mike Krukow, who occasionally had to pause while overcome with emotion, remembered the impact Mays had on the community.
“We all loved him. He was our guy,” Krukow said. “He was the guy who taught us the basket catch. … He was so special in so many ways. … He died a 93-year-old kid. Every day I saw him, he was at the ballpark, and there was no place he’d rather be.”
At his favorite place, the Giants turned the entire field into a shrine to Mays.
Giants players and coaches lined the field, all donning Mays’ No. 24 – a number no Giant had worn since 1983 and a jersey that San Francisco manager Bob Melvin said pregame that he would be in favor of retiring leaguewide.
After returning from a series against St. Louis, which included a game dedicated to Mays at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, the Giants gave an elaborate tribute for one of the sport’s all-time greats in the team’s first day back in the Bay Area since Mays’ passing.
A Mays decal was painted directly behind home plate, and his retired number in left field was encircled in flowers. The American flag – as well as the state’s and Giants’ – slew at half-mast in center field.
A long video tribute to Mays, which ended with “Forever a Giant,” played before the game. A documentary devoted to Mays’ time in the Negro Leagues also played on the centerfield video board.
Farewell messages from, but not limited to, U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama, 49ers legend Ronnie Lott and musician Billy Crystal were accompanied by the “Say Hey, Willie Mays” song.
As members of the Giants television and radio broadcast teams spoke about the San Francisco legend, hundreds of fans found another way to pay their respects to the legend at his unofficial memorial outside of Oracle Park.
A multi-colored mountain of flowers – some in wreathes, others in a large bouquet, and the rest in vases – along with memorabilia and photos laid at the base of the nine-foot bronze statue depicting Mays, at the peak of his powers, following through on a swing.
Some fans quietly added a flower or two to the collection as they shuffled by. More than a few posed for photos. Others, those with gray hair and eyes who had watched baseball for decades, could be heard educating younger fans about the San Francisco legend.
“That is the great Willie Mays,” was one man’s answer to a bewildered “Who is that” question from an elementary school-aged child.
Nobody had to tell 62-year-old Wilson Hill who Mays was, with the Oakland native a lifelong fan of the Hall of Famer.
Hill, who was at the Coliseum with his grandfather and watched an older Mays get his last hit for the Mets in the 1974 World Series, wasn’t going to let anything stop him from attending the ceremony.
“I bought my ticket to this game as soon as I found out,” Hill said. “I knew I had to be here because I know it’s going to be a special occasion.”
Steve Duditch grew up in New York in the 1950s before moving to the Bay Area in the 1960s, and thus got a chance to watch Mays as a Giant on both coasts.
“I watched him since he was a young kid and I was just a baby,” Duditch said while looking at the statue. “He could run, field, throw. The best all-around player in baseball history.”
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More than a few passers-by stopped to read off his staggering list of accomplishments, and at least a couple could be heard marveling at the eye-popping numbers he accrued during his pro career.
Mays started his career in 1946 starring in the Negro Leagues of the segregated South, first for Chattanooga and then for his hometown Birmingham Barons. The Say Hey kid then played 22 seasons (1951-73) in the big leagues, mostly for the Giants in New York and then San Francisco.
In the major leagues, Mays hit 660 home runs with 1,909 RBIs, and also stole 339 bases. He led the National League in home runs and stolen bases four times. The superstar had 3,293 hits and had a .301 batting average, and was named to a record 24 All-Star teams.
“He was so special in so many ways,” Krukow said. “He won hearts on the east coast and west coast and everywhere in between.”
