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RIP Willie Mays

Partially due perhaps to my state of health, I have been shedding tears all day listening to the sports radio and all the stories coming in. It sounds nuts to those logical hardened types but the largeness of his spirit, exposed by his fame via athletic brilliance summoned those feeling in so many of us . I was born in 1956 and I was tuned in when the Giants came to SF at first in fuzzy name recognition then nerding out on stats and such as I grew older. I used to have the team lineup memorized and listened to the games on a little transistor radio. To this day, everything about the Giants has that visceral impact and he was the king above all. Whether he meant it to be that way, Wille projected love and security to my little ass. So many of us loved the guy like family despite the bullshit racism of the day which the older generations tried to project and promote to kids.
 
Bay Arean said:
Partially due perhaps to my state of health, I have been shedding tears all day listening to the sports radio and all the stories coming in. It sounds nuts to those logical hardened types but the largeness of his spirit, exposed by his fame via athletic brilliance summoned those feeling in so many of us . I was born in 1956 and I was tuned in when the Giants came to SF at first in fuzzy name recognition then nerding out on stats and such as I grew older. I used to have the team lineup memorized and listened to the games on a little transistor radio. To this day, everything about the Giants has that visceral impact and he was the king above all. Whether he meant it to be that way, Wille projected love and security to my little ass. So many of us loved the guy like family despite the bullshit racism of the day which the older generations tried to project and promote to kids.
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Grew up in SF. My heart broken when he was traded to the Mets.

Not many know he lost two years to the military at the peak of his career. He played 34 games in ‘52 and zero in ‘53.

He hit 41 HRs in ‘54 after completing his service. Finished w 660 HRs, 54 short of tying Ruth.

Do the math.

Hero.

Goat.

Plus, he protected McCovey and often held at first when he hit what would have been a double.
 
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