Tributes to Willie Mays pour in as mural is unveiled in Alabama

By Alanis Thames | The Associated Press A Willie Mays mural is shown in downtown Birmingham, Ala., Wednesday, June 19, 2024. The mural was created by artist Chuck Styles and celebrates Mays’ contributions to baseball, honoring the longtime Giants center fielder who died Tuesday at age 93.(AP Photo/Alanis Thames) BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Willie Mays gave a message to his longtime friend Dusty Baker just a day before he died. Mays, who died Tuesday afternoon at 93 years old, knew that he wouldn’t be able to make the trip to Birmingham, Alabama, for a week of festivities honoring the contributions that he and other Negro Leaguers have made to baseball. But he wanted Baker to share a message to the city he long called home. “Birmingham, I wish I could be with you all today,” said Mays’ good friend and adviser Jeff Bleich, reading the statement at a ceremony Wednesday honoring Mays’ life and career. “This is where I’m from. I had my first pro hit here at Rickwood as a Black Baron. And now this year, some 76 years later, that hit finally got counted in the record books. I guess some things take time. But I always think...