PERSPECTIVE: A tribute to Willie Mays, baseball’s ‘Say Hey Kid’

Willie Mays’ sunny, wholesome image was not accidental; the image was crafted to make baseball’s greatest all-round player. Willie Howard Mays Jr., who died June 18 at age 93, was born May 6, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, reported Arthur Ashe in volume III of “A Hard Road to Glory: A History of the African-American Athlete Since 1946.” Both parents were athletes — mom Annie was a champion high school sprinter, and dad, nicknamed “Cat,” played semi-pro baseball. Willie’s parents married at 18, then divorced when he was 3 years old. Afterwards, the boy lived with his father, Willie Sr., and two older orphan girls who helped raise him with an aunt. Young Willie was a gifted three-sport athlete [football and basketball, in addition to baseball], who was supervised. The teenager played side by side with dad in an industrial league, then joined Willie Sr. in 1948 on the Negro league Birmingham Black Barons. While in high school, Willie Jr. was not allowed to travel with the Barons while classes were in session. He finished high school, but skipped his senior prom, because he signed a contract with the New York Giants, then was rushed to the...