24 by Willie Mays and John Shea
Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid
Shortly after hearing that Willie Mays died, I immediately got to work by requesting a copy of 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid through the local library. It’s a book that belongs on every baseball fan’s bookshelf. As far as I see it, it’s the last gift that Willie Mays could give us, outside of his death bringing on a very different broadcast of the Negro Leagues tribute game between the St. Louis Cardinals and San Francisco Giants. With his death, the greatest all-around baseball player is no longer with us. That’s how great of a player that Mays was. He could do it all: hitting, hitting for power, fielding, throwing, and running. Oh, yeah, there’s also the sixth tool: embracing the mental game.
I have to admit that I bought James Hirsch’s 2010 biography, Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend, shortly after watching the HBO documentary, Say Hey, Willie Mays! Unfortunately, I still haven’t read it but rest assured, this is going to happen soon. Not a matter of if but when. It’s an authorized biography running about 640 pages. I imagine that Scribner will be printing a new run following last month’s news that Mays died.
A decade after the Hirsch book, St. Martin’s Press published a new Mays memoir, only it is part memoir and part biography. I went into this book thinking it was going to be a memoir by Mays, co-written with San Francisco Chronicle baseball columnist John Shea. I would say it’s half and half. Shea spent 100 hours visiting with Mays, more access than Mays had given anyone else. Because I haven’t read the Hirsch book, I’m unable to compare them at the moment but in the acknowledgements, Shea writes that all the material here is exclusive for the book, transcribing every interview himself. There’s no bibliography or borrowing from previous magazines, documentaries, or newspaper articles. All of Willie’s comments are exclusive to the book, which is what makes it so exciting to read. Shea interviewed 200 others, including Hall of Famers and other baseball legends no longer with us.
Mays and Shea discuss all the major highlights such as Willie’s childhood; his relationship with Mickey Mantle and to a lesser extent, Duke Snider; The Catch; the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, including Mays breaking up the Juan Marichal/John Rosenboro fight; the 4-homer game in Milwaukee; the 16-inning duel between Juan Marichal and Warren Spahn; racism; President Barack Obama; Barry Bonds; etc. There’s so much to say when it comes to Mays that it’s tough just shortening to just a few highlights. The book itself is spread out over 24 chapters, alluding to his jersey number. It’s an amazing way to approach Mays’s life and career through these different chapters.
What I didn’t know about Mays was that Commissioner Bowie Kuhn suspended him and Mantle from baseball for taking a job with a casino. Baseball took gambling seriously and even if they were not betting on baseball, the optics alone were enough to ban them from the game. However, Kuhn’s successor, Peter Ueberroth, reviewed the case and undid the damage. The end of the Mantle chapter brought me to tears. I still remember hearing that he died months after getting a new liver. What I didn’t know was just how similar they were in both life and baseball.
I’m not surprised in the last that Mays was on the receiving end of racism. What does surprise me is that one thinks of San Francisco as a very liberal city and yet, none of the homeowners wanted the greatest all-around baseball player moving into their neighborhood just because of his skin color. As President Clinton says himself: “Because of the way he played and the way he conducted himself, Willie Mays made it absurd to be a racist.” Absolutely true. Speaking of racism, Jackie Robinson thought Mays should have done more but Mays was the type of person to do things behind the scenes.
One thing that has changed since Mays played is how we view baseball stats. Mays won a pair of MVP Awards (1954, 1965) but had writers factored in his WAR, he probably could have won even more MVP trophies. According to Baseball-Reference, Mays led WAR (Wins Above Replacement) in either the NL or all of MLB during 10 different seasons. He led in oWAR (Offensive Wins Above Replacement) 7 different times. His career WAR (156.2) is good enough to be ranked in fifth in all of MLB history, behind only Babe Ruth, Walter Johnson, Cy Young, and Barry Bonds. Offensively speaking, his 156.2 ranks third for position players, behind only Bonds and Ruth.
The great Bob Costas pens the forward. The 2018 Ford Frick Award recipient had the chance to see Mays play back in 1957, prior to the Giants moving to San Francisco. Costas would later become a friend of Mays, interviewing him several times. One of those just happened to be an hour-long conversation with Hank Aaron. To be a fly on that wall.
24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid is an essential book for anyone that calls themselves a baseball fan.