Quote:
Originally Posted by JollyElm
I am a ridiculously huuuuuge fan, but since forever I've heard that Willie Mays is the absolute rudest human being on the planet to his fans. For this reason, I have never taken the opportunity to meet him at a show that he was appearing at (uh oh, misuse of a preposition?). This way, the player, the legend will forever stay beautifully intact in my mind, uncorrupted by the butchery of reality.
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Sad to say, because it should not have to be this way, but this is extremely wise. Keep Say Hey at a distance, and keep enjoying him and his amazing baseball skills. I still have this several-second video clip in my mind of an outfield play at Candlestick Park. A surefire double or triple hit ball looked like it was going to careen off the outfield fence. Two Giant fielders are trying to get the ball. All of a sudden here comes Willie Mays flying in. You talk about Mr. Jordan in the air. E-gad! Ballet at five feet in the air. Willie caught the ball before it hit the fence. It was flat-out one of the greatest catches I ever saw.
This is why, a decade and a half before he made this play, the great actress and fellow Alabamian Tallulah Bankhead said there were two geniuses in history---Willie Shakespeare and Willie Mays.
---Brian Powell