WILLIE MAYS WAS THE BEST AND THE GREATEST OF NEW YORK'S CENTER FIELDERS

 By Edwin Cooney

As a Yankee fan, my favorite center fielder was Mickey Charles Mantle. Many friends of mine would vote for Edwin Donald “Duke” Snyder. A broad swath of American baseball fans, however, would vote for Willie Howard Mays, Jr. At the very outset of his big league career, Willie was both friendly and optimistic. However, after having gone some 23 hitless at bats, Willie went to Giants' Manager Leo Durocher and said something like: Mr. Leo, send me back to the minors. I can't hit major league pitching. Leo Durocher's reply was: Willie, you're the greatest center fielder I've ever seen and you'll stay right there! Of course, Leo knew Willie would and eventually did hit. Leo's reassurance had, however, reinforced Willie's self confidence! Unlike Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Hank Greenberg and other sluggers, Willie was only 5 foot 11 inches tall, but he had big hands and, according to the Times' Richard Goldstein, superior peripheral vision, enabling him to judge pitches and fly balls with unusual precision.

Willie Mays was born on Wednesday, May 6th, 1931 in Westfield, Alabama, not far from Birmingham, to two unmarried people. Willie Howard Mays and Annie Satterwhite were never married to each other.

Willie's mother eventually married and had nine children. She and Willie remained happily in touch well into Willie's big league career. While growing up, Willie lived with his dad who, it is said, was named after the Republican President William Howard Taft. Taft’s party ascended from Abraham Lincoln. Willie Howard Mays, Sr. was a boilermaker and a Pullman porter. As a baseball center fielder like his famous son, he was called "Cat."

One of Willie's heroes was, of course, Jackie Robinson. In the 1960s, Robinson scolded Willie for not forcefully speaking out for civil rights. Late in 1968, Willie Mays held a press conference explaining that different people had different ways of accomplishing the same goal. He said he wasn't a good speaker and he couldn't demonstrate, but in all of his public talks to fellow Blacks, his messages were the same as Jackie's.

As wonderful as Willie's career was, he had some disappointments. When the Giants moved to San Francisco, rookie Orlando Cepeda, rather than Willie, was voted by San Franciscans as the most valuable San Francisco Giant. When Willie sought to purchase property in San Francisco, it took an intervention by Mayor George Christopher and the San Francisco Chronicle to sufficiently pressure the owner of the property to sell Willie the land. Then, on October 16th, 1962, there was the Giants' loss in seven games to the Yankees. (Note: That happened to be the same day President John Kennedy was told of the Soviet missiles in Cuba!)

In 2015, President Barack Obama awarded Willie Mays and, posthumously, fellow baseball super individual Yogi Berra the Presidential Medal of Freedom. President Obama told Willie in 2009 that if it hadn't been for him and Jackie Robinson, Obama could never have been elected President of the United States. I agree with that!

It's been fun, however, learning to love Willie Mays. I've been taught to do so by a number of very special people!

RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
EDWIN COONEY