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African-American Village Daily News

New book on Mays brings `Say Hey Kid' to life

By KENDAL WEAVER

"Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend'' (Scribner, 628 pages, $30), by James S. Hirsch: For the aging fans following him in his prime, Willie Mays was a youthful phenomenon who in time became baseball's happy warrior.

He dazzled with spectacular plays in the field and dramatic power at the plate. A prodigy of the Negro Leagues, he answered the racists of his era with his incredible skills, his steady devotion to his game, his preference to get along, not give angry statements.

James S. Hirsch compellingly recounts Mays' career in a new biography, "Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend,'' giving even Mays' iconic moments, such as "The Catch'' in the 1954 World Series, a sense of tension as if they were unfolding anew.

He also looks closely at how Mays fielded the other challenge of his time - a Black ballplayer moving from the segregated South in the 1950s to join a game long accustomed to all-white rosters and clubhouses.

Unlike Jackie Robinson, who broke baseball's color barrier, Mays chose to avoid confrontation, and caught his share of grief from more activist Blacks because of it. But Hirsch makes clear that Mays was hardly spared the racist spite that would set off tirades today.

Born in Westfield, Ala., an all-Black village in the steel mill environs on Birmingham's western border, Mays was snubbed by Birmingham's bigoted power brokers: A parade on "Willie Mays Day'' in 1954 was abruptly canceled; a 1963 documentary about the superstar, "A Man Named Mays,'' was televised - except in Birmingham, where it was Blacked out.

Even in San Francisco, where Mays played when the Giants moved from New York City in 1958, a bottle carrying a racist message was thrown through the front window of his home. Mays didn't raise a public fit about it.

In Hirsch's account, the shadow of Robinson followed Mays on and off the field just as the Yankees' Mickey Mantle gave him chase in their Hall of Fame careers. For Hirsch, Mays is more than his numbers. No one quite compares.

"His brilliance was in how he played the game, and the Catch evokes the awe and wonder of those skills,'' he writes.

The book is thick - 628 pages - and is chockfull of moment-by-moment, pitch-by-pitch renderings of pivotal games and plays, even some not so pivotal. Often it reads like too many extra innings.

It is billed as the only "authorized'' biography ever granted by Mays, who turns 79 this year, and is no tell-all tale. In a brief account, Mays visits Wilt Chamberlain's Harlem bar, Small's Paradise, and gets the name and number of a young woman who would become the love of his life. But there's not another word about the relationship of Willie and Wilt (he of the alleged 20,000 conquests).

So there are no scandalous scenes here. Just great baseball reading, by an accomplished writer (Hirsch also wrote a biography of the boxer Rubin "Hurricane'' Carter) about a wondrous ballplayer and man with gifts beyond the diamond.

 

Super Bowl-Fans - For some fans, close to Super Bowl is good enough

By PAUL NEWBERRY
AP National Writer

MIAMI (AP) - Alvin Boseman didn't have a ticket to the big game.

Didn't really care, either.

The longtime New Orleans Saints fan got together with nine of his family and friends, rented a $400-a-day RV and made the 14-hour haul to Miami - just so he could park his house on wheels in a friend's driveway to watch the Super Bowl on a big-screen television.

Being close (about 81/2 miles away from Sun Life Stadium) was good enough when you've waited 43 years for your team to make it this far.

"They can feel us,'' said Ronald Higgins, who also came along for the ride. "We're a spiritual team. They know we're here.''

There were some 75,000 people in the stands for the game between the Saints and the Indianapolis Colts, but some of the most passionate fans for both teams gladly settled for watching on TV somewhere in the vicinity of Sun Life Stadium.

Boseman is a Saints' season-ticket holder, which gave him a shot at landing one of the limited number of Super Bowl tickets doled out to each team. But his name wasn't picked in the lottery, so he began making other plans. Everyone chipped in $500 and the party was on. They rented the RV, hired a friend known as "Goody Woody'' to take care of the driving duties, and stocked every cabinet and cupboard with all the necessities: mainly, plenty of food and plenty of alcohol.

They expected some 50 people to join them for Super Sunday and a menu that included gumbo, ribs, red beans, pork chops, chicken, turkey salad and a drink - or six. There was a Saints flag flying in the front yard, turning this little patch of South Florida into Miami Gras.

"I may never see this day again,'' Boseman said. "Tomorrow isn't promised to you.''

This group knew a thing or two about real life. The 65-year-old Boseman underwent open-heart surgery just six months ago (and he'll gladly pull up his shirt to show you a scar running from just below his neck to just above his belly button).

Higgins just lost his father, who was buried Thursday after a long battle with cancer. A few hours after the funeral, he hopped in the RV and headed for Miami.

He feels like his father came along for the ride.

"I was telling him, 'Pop, if you hang on another week, we'll bring home the trophy,''' said Higgins, sitting outside the RV wearing a Black "Who Dat?'' T-shirt. "He didn't quite make it, but he'll know.''

The Colts also were represented on the outside.

Arjun Ishwar, who recently moved from Indianapolis to California, watched the game with about six friends from a parking lot near the stadium. They hooked up a television in the trunk of their vehicle and brought along plenty of food and booze.

"This was kind of always the plan,'' the 24-year-old Ishwar said. "We just wanted to be here.''

But why pay to sit in a parking lot when they could have stayed at home for free?

"It's the Colts!'' he shouted. "They've always been my team. Even when they were 1-15.''

Then there were the fans who did get in.

Michael Bell of New Orleans said he's been a season-ticket holder since the Saints entered the NFL in 1967, After enduring so many losing seasons - after all, this team was once dubbed the "Aints'' - he felt as though he had reached nirvana.

"We're finally here,'' he said, wearing Black-and-gold beads. "If we don't win, the consolation prize: We go home to 10 days of Mardi Gras.''

Added his wife, Aimee, "The party goes one whether we win or lose. We're going to win ... (but) it's OK if we don't. We love our boys.''

Back on the outside, Higgins' personal loss was soothed by the Saints' run to their first Super Bowl. He was right where he wanted to be - not in the stadium, but close enough.

"Win or lose, the party's on,'' he said. "We love to party.''

---

Associated Press writers Sarah Larimer and Lisa Orkin Emmanuel contributed to this report.
 

New Orleans Carnival parades are rolling tailgate

By KEVIN McGILL and STACEY PLAISANCE
Associated Press Writers

NEW ORLEANS (AP) - Dogs dressed in Saints jerseys and gaudy floats carrying masked riders provided a rolling pre-game tailgate party for thousands as New Orleans started partying long before the Super Bowl kicked off.

The game fell on the first big weekend of Carnival season parades, and most who came to watch the floats and marching bands wore the black and gold team colors of the Saints. They lined the streets while sidewalk vendors and downtown bards did a brisk business in corn dogs, nachos and beer.

David Frazier and Daphne Naro, of the San Francisco area, were among the parade goers along Canal Street at the edge of the French Quarter. The game brought them back to New Orleans, Frazier's home town.

"The Saints in the Super Bowl, man. That's a once-in-forever thing,'' Frazier said.

He could have headed to Miami, but, "I got no connections in Miami. My connection's here.''

They predicted "pandemonium'' would accompany a Saints victory over the Indianapolis Colts; and a good time for all even if they lose. "The Saints have been used to losing for so many years, as fans, we lose very well,'' Frazier said.

In the French Quarter, the afternoon celebrations began with the procession of the "Krewe of Barkus,'' a mini-parade for dogs. Dogs sporting black and gold feathers, beads, sequins and Saints jerseys marched with their owners through the Quarter.

One yellow labrador retriever walked the parade route past St. Louis Cathedral dressed like Saints tight end Jeremy Shockey, complete with stringy blond wig and fake tattoos running down his legs below the No. 88 jersey.

"He has a laid-back surfer personality, like Shockey,'' said Stas Zhuk, gesturing to 2-year-old Diego being walked by his wife. "He's friendly to everyone.''

They moved to New Orleans six months ago, "so we became intense rabid fans in a short amount of time,'' Zhuk said.

"It's a beautiful day. The Saints are in the Super Bowl. We had to come out and celebrate,'' said Kathy Graffeo, who had her 5-year-old Beagle mix dressed in a black skirt with gold sequins in tow as she headed to the parade route.

Frazier said Sunday was a remarkable day for the storm-scarred city, where many neighborhoods are still battling to recover from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. The Saints were making their first appearance in the Super Bowl, a successful Carnival season was underway, and the city had united a day earlier to elect a new mayor, Mitch Landrieu, with 66 percent of the vote over 10 other candidates.

"There's never been a day like this in New Orleans ever,'' said Frazier. "Ever.''




 

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