Best Of - Willie Mays: For the Love of the Game

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Academy of Achievement

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4.6 • 943 Ratings

🗓️ 26 April 2021

⏱️ 29 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Willie Mays was featured in one of our very first episodes. We're taking a second listen today, to celebrate the legendary center fielder's 90th birthday (on May 4th). Baseball fans may argue to this day about which was the best of Willie Mays’ many spectacular catches, but nearly all agree — he was one of the most versatile, virtuosic players of all time. In this episode, featuring an intimate interview with Mays recorded in 1996, the Hall-of-Famer talks about growing up in segregated Alabama, and winning over racist baseball fans soon after he became the first African-American player on his team. He recalls the day he got the call to move up to the majors, and describes in delightful terms how he never had to actually work at being a great athlete. He also talks about the catch he swears was better than “The Catch.” Hearing his voice, you’re reminded why Willie Mays was one of America’s most beloved baseball players, as well as one of its greatest. (c ) American Academy of Achievement 2015-2021

Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, it's Alice. When we started this podcast back in 2015, our second episode featured
0:10.8	one of the true legends of baseball, Willie Mays.
0:15.0	He started in the Negro leagues and was one of the first black players to cross baseball's color line.
0:21.0	It's especially interesting to note this history at a time when Major League Baseball has
0:26.0	taken a stand against Georgia's new election law, a law that civil rights advocates and
0:32.2	analysts say was aimed at suppressing the African American
0:36.1	vote.
0:37.1	When the baseball commissioner announced that he was moving the all-star game from Atlanta
0:42.0	to Denver, there was a backlash from the right demanding
0:45.7	that the Baseball League stay out of politics.
0:49.1	But the words of Willie Mays recorded long before this era of hyper-partisanship remind us that the battle for racial
0:56.7	equality and justice have a long history in the sport of baseball, and there's another very important reason
1:04.0	we're revisiting our Willie May's episode just now.
1:08.0	The Say Hey Kid turns 90 years old on May 6th. Happy birthday, Willie Mays.
1:15.0	Madam
1:17.0	This child is gifted.
1:21.0	And I heard that enough that I started to believe it.
1:24.6	If you have the opportunity not a perfect opportunity and you don't take it you may never have another job.
1:30.9	It all was so clear.
1:32.4	It was just like the picture started to form itself.
1:35.6	There was no way in which a lie could prevail over the truth, darkness over light,
1:42.3	death over life.
	...

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