By Sports Editor Brian Hoffman
A celebration to honor Willie Mays turned into a wake last week when one of baseball’s
all-time greats died two days before the big event. Mays passed on Tuesday, June 18th , with his
Giants set to play the Cardinals at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama on
Thursday.
As most of you know by now, Mays grew up near the ballpark built in 1910. It was home
of the Negro League Birmingham Black Barons, a team Mays played for before signing with the
New York Giants. Last week’s game between the Giants and Cardinals was set for a day after
Juneteenth and, while all Negro League players were remembered for the occasion, this one was
special for Willie Mays.
He was one of my favorites. Willie was still in his prime when I was a little kid
developing a love for baseball. I was seven years old when I started collecting baseball cards in
1960 and I recall showing my cards to a friend of my dads who was visiting. He pulled out a
couple cards to look at more closely and made sure I knew Willie Mays was the best player of
the bunch.
My dad wasn’t a big baseball fan, but he was a big church guy and every summer our
church took a bus to see a Phillies game at old Connie Mack Stadium. My dad always made sure
we had a seat on that bus and I was 10 years old when trip organizer Jim Church(yes, that was
his real name) informed the congregation we’d be going to see the Phillies play the Giants this
summer.
I was thrilled. I would get to see Willie Mays play in person. It’s 61 years later but I still
recall watching his every move in warmups, all in brilliant color. We didn’t have high-def games
on big TVs in 1963, everything was black & white but beautiful none the less to a 10 year old
fan.
I’ll tell you what I remember most. The Giants had runners on second and third and Mays
was due up, but Phillies manager Gene Mauch ordered an intentional walk to load the bases,
setting up a force at every bag. The move backfired when Orlando Cepeda drilled a grand slam
home run off the auto dealer billboard atop the leftfield pavilion roof. If I close my eyes I can
still see it now.
Mays was always my favorite “non-Phillie” player. In the intro to the Game of the Week
they would show him making that catch in right center where he climbed the chain link fence at
Candlestick Park and soared over Bobby Bonds to make the most incredible catch of a baseball I
have ever seen.
I actually got to meet the man in 1985. That year the owners of our local Carolina League
team, the Salem Redbirds, were two guys from New York who grew up idolizing Mays when he
played for the New York Giants. They brought him to Salem for “Willie Mays Day” and had a
Redbirds’ jersey number 24 to present him, which I’m certain he was thrilled to receive.
That afternoon, prior to the game, Willie toured the Veterans Hospital in Salem and
visited with patients. The late Jon Kaufman, who was a good friend of mine and assistant GM for
the Redbirds, was assigned to accompany Mays to the VA. It was funny to hear Jon tell the story
about how Mays kept hurrying him along and ordering him what to do. Then, just as Jon was
getting totally agitated with our famous guest, Willie took off his watch and gave it to one of the
patients.
That night Willie came early and signed autographs in front of the clubhouse at what is
now Kiwanis Park in Salem, then home to the Redbirds. A long line of folks waited to meet the
all-time great and he pleasantly chatted and signed until rain started to fall. Willie was to throw
out the first ball but the game was rain-delayed and he started to get annoyed because he was
supposed to catch a flight that evening. Finally the rain stopped, Willie threw out the ball and left
the ballpark before the game even started.
And it was a probably a good thing he did. We were a Texas Rangers farm team at the
time and one of their top pitching prospects, Mitch Williams, was Salem’s starting pitcher.
Williams, who had a good career in the big leagues, was known to be wild and he didn’t get out
of the first inning. I don’t remember who the Redbirds were playing but he walked a few and hit
a few more and Salem was down five or six runs before Willie even got to the airport. That
season in Salem, Williams, who would later be tagged with the nickname “Wild Thing,” pitched
99 innings and struck out 138 but walked 117.
It was sad to see Willie pass last week. Although most of us aren’t going to make it to 93,
he was a player I admired in my youth and when you lose someone like that your own mortality
really hits you. Losing Jerry West and Willie Mays in the same month! Where has the time
gone?
And so, Thursday’s game was not so much a celebration for Mays, but of Mays. You saw
all the highlights over and over, catching that ball over his head in the World Series against the
Indians, running the bases with his hat flying off, hitting tape measure home runs and strutting
around the bases like the King of Baseball that he was.
Yeah, I may be getting older, but I saw the “Say Hey Kid” play live and in person and
that’s a memory I’ll always cherish. He was, indeed, a Giant.
We lost another giant last week two days after Willie Mays passed, at least to the folks in
the Vinton area. Former William Byrd coach and teacher Richard Thrasher passed away last
Thursday at 76 years old.
Thrasher coached track, cross country and girls’ basketball for the Terriers for many
years and was regarded as an outstanding coach. He won 301 games in 15 years as girls’
basketball coach, took the Terriers to the state tournament eight times and won it in 1997. I
won’t dwell on his accomplishments as they can be found in his obituary in this week’s paper.
I really enjoyed covering teams that Richard coached. He was always very nice to me and
he had good teams, which makes it a lot easier to write stories for the paper. What’s more he was a Vinton guy through and through, having graduated from William Byrd High School. He really
cared about the kids and took great pride in seeing them go on to have success not only on the
basketball floor, cross country course or track, but in life.
Unfortunately he didn’t have the best of luck in regards to health. He had cancer at an
early age and survived, but was plagued with health issues for most of his adult life. You’d never
know it by talking to him, as he didn’t want your sympathy and fought his ills with the same
passion he displayed in sports. He was a winner.
Those who crossed his path were fortunate to have known him, and I count myself among
that crowd. He was a good coach and an even better person.
