HONORING WILLIE
Giants hold a 90th birthday party for the ‘Say Hey’ kid at Oracle Park
SAN FRANCISCO >> The statue of Willie Mays, appropriately located at 24 Willie Mays Plaza, was properly adorned with an orange birthday hat.
More fans than usual milled around about an hour before game time in front of the statue Friday night, taking selfies with their cell phones on the occasion of the 90th birthday of the most famous player in the history of the New York-San Francisco Giants.
It was festive, and why wouldn’t it be? Who doesn’t love a good birthday party, and who doesn’t love Willie Mays?
Mays’ birthday was actually Thursday but the Giants were off. So a franchise that knows how to commemorate special occasions did it at Oracle Park in honor of the man many consider to be the best who ever played before the Giants opened a three-game series against the San Diego Padres.
Giants catcher Buster Posey, a modern franchise icon in his own right with three World Series rings, an MVP, a batting title and a Rookie of the Year award, tried to put Mays in perspective in a pregame video conference.
“I think when you hear the name Willie Mays, it’s almost like a mythological type of
name,” Posey said. “Has the same feeling as a Babe Ruth or a Lou Gehrig.”
Mays’ birthday celebration included video tributes from Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez, as well as former Giants Dusty Baker, Will Clark and Dave Dravecky.
Jeffrey Leonard, whose glare was so fierce he had the nickname “Penitentiary Face,” was hardly recognizable on the scoreboard as he split into wide grin and happily serenaded Mays with his rendition of “Happy Birthday.”
Before the game started, Mays was driven around the stadium in a 1956 Oldsmobile 88 to the song “Say Hey Willie” which was released by The Treniers in his honor in 1989. He waved his cap and smiled as fans smiled, cheered and waved back. Then Mays adjourned to a suite for the ballgame.
The Mays experience, as was mentioned in just about every video tribute, was about good times and a smile to go along with a five-tool skill set of hitting, hitting with power, running, throwing and fielding unmatched before or since.
Mays, at his age in a COVID-19 environment, hasn’t been around as much the last couple of years. But his screeching voice and laughter were ubiquitous for decades as generations of players, many of whom never saw him play, were nonetheless spellbound in his presence.
“All of us who have been around here for awhile spent quite a good amount of time with him,” Posey said. “He still likes to talk the game, wants to try to get to know the guys that are on the team. Unfortunately we haven’t seen him much the last couple of years. But when he’s around, it’s usually pretty entertaining.”
Giants manager Gabe Kapler didn’t meet Mays in person until he was hired by the Giants.
“He told stories. I got to shake his hand, and it was really a special moment for me, obviously on honor,” Kapler said. “In part because of who he was on the field, which is arguably the top two or three players of all time, and in part because of how much he means to the San Francisco community and how much he’s meant to baseball and all the good work he’s done off the field.”
Mays’ accomplishments — 660 home runs, 3,283 hits, 1,903 runs scored and 338 stolen bases — were accumulated with such a flair he has crossed generational lines.
“When somebody is one of the two or best three players in the history of the sport, it’s hard not to make an impact on current players,” Kapler said. “I don’t think we get that much exposure to the alltime, all-time greats, and the all-time great human beings.”
About 45 minutes before game time, John Runfola of San Francisco was walking around the concourse with his prized “Mays 24” jersey. Runfola saw Mays play toward the end of his career, but will never forget a chance meeting in the city.
“I was with my son one time, and we were getting off an elevator and there was Willie Mays,” Runfola said. “I think I might have squeezed a couple of words out.”