Willie Mays mural in Alabama, paying tribute to the late Hall of Famer

BIRMINGHAM, Alabama – Willie Mays gave a message to his old friend Dusty Baker the day before he died.

Mays, who died Tuesday afternoon at the age of 93, knew he would not be able to make the trip to Birmingham, Alabama, for a week of festivities honoring the contributions he and other Negro Leaguers have made to baseball. But he wanted Baker to share a message with the city he long called home.

“Birmingham, I wish I could be with all of you today,” Mays’ close friend and advisor Jeff Bleich said as he read the statement during a ceremony Wednesday honoring Mays’ life and career. “This is where I come from. I had my first professional hit here at Rickwood as Black Baron. And now this year, some 76 years later, that hit was finally counted in the record books. I guess some things take time. But I always think: better late than never.”

Mays also sent an antique clock with his photo on it to the city of Birmingham. Baker wasn’t feeling well, Bleich said, so he didn’t attend the ceremony.

“Time changes things,” Mays continued in his note. “Time heals wounds. And that’s a good thing. I had some of the best times of my life in Birmingham. So I want you to have this clock to remember those times with me, and to help all the other players who were lucky enough to play together here.”

The ceremony took place in downtown Birmingham, just miles from Rickwood Field, where Mays’ unforgettable career began. Bleich, along with Birmingham Mayor Randall Woodfin and San Francisco Giants CEO Larry Baer, ​​gave speeches honoring Mays, standing in front of a large mural of the former Giants center fielder.

It’s a mesmerizing rendition of the electrifying “Say Hey Kid,” in which Mays beams with his hands on his knees as his entire array of athletic feats is painted around him.

The artwork was created by artist Chuck Styles, who said he wanted to capture Mays’ humanity.

“I knew I wanted to show him in a way that everyone knew him from,” Styles said, “and that was his smile.”

Other tributes to Mays, a native of Westfield, Alabama, near Birmingham, poured in across the country on Wednesday, including from President Joe Biden.

“Like so many others in my neighborhood and across the country, when I played in Little League, I wanted to play center field because of Willie Mays,” Biden said in a statement. “It was a rite of passage to practice his basket catches, daring steals and commands at the plate – only to be told by the coaches to knock it out because no one can do what Willie Mays could do.”

Mays, who began his professional career with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues in 1948, was baseball’s oldest living Hall of Famer and considered the sport’s greatest living player.

He died two days before a game between the Giants and St. Louis Cardinals in honor of the Negro Leagues at Rickwood Field in Birmingham.

“It’s even tougher today,” said Giants manager Bob Melvin, wearing a Mays T-shirt. “If you read all the articles and what everyone has to say about him, it comes full circle to what he means to our country. Even if you don’t know baseball, you know who Willie Mays is.”

Melvin said the Giants would wear patches with Mays’ No. 24 on their chest for Wednesday’s game against the Chicago Cubs.

When the team travels to Birmingham for the memorial game at Rickwood Field on Thursday, the Giants will open Oracle Park for fans to watch the game on the scoreboard, the team announced.

Images of Mays will appear on the scoreboard before and after the event, and a sculpture of his jersey number will be placed at center field in his honor.

Cardinals manager Oliver Marmol said Thursday’s game will be even more poignant after Mays’ death.

“It will certainly be meaningful to be present for everything that happens,” Marmol said. “You have an icon of the sport in the city where it all started, so I think it will be a pretty cool moment to bring light to that.”

The 37-year-old manager said he has never met Mays, but it was interesting to hear stories from former Giants like Brandon Crawford about him.

“I’ll do more of that today. It’ll be fun to hear people’s stories,” Marmol said. “I’m curious to ask around for those who have.”

Cardinals assistant coach Willie McGee said he had several conversations with Mays when he played for the Giants from 1991 to 1994.

“Willie was the best man, the best I ever saw,” McGee said. “He had all six tools. His aggressiveness, his baserunning. That’s what separated him, to me, his aggressiveness and his instincts from other guys with five tools.”

When asked if Mays ever gave him any advice, McGee chuckled.

“All the time, but I don’t remember any of it,” he said.