MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson sat on the Fox Sports panel on the historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama, on Thursday evening in mourning, very like the remainder of the baseball world is after the demise of Willie Mays.
Mays died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon at 93 years outdated, two days earlier than this long-awaited recreation between the St. Louis Cardinals and his San Francisco Giants was to be performed on the Negro Leagues area he competed at with the Birmingham Black Barons when he was only a child trying to break into skilled baseball.
Fellow Hall of Famer Derek Jeter shared a textual content trade that he had with Jackson to kick off the remembrance of Mays, who Jackson mentioned was his “all-time favourite.”
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“’He was on the very least one of many best of all-time,’” Jeter mentioned Jackson texted him. “’We all wished to be like Willie. When one performed towards him, you bought caught up in watching Willie. He was pure baseball. My all-time favourite, love the man. I wished to be like Willie.’”
Jackson went additional into his admiration for Mays, who he bought to know nicely as a younger ballplayer in MLB.
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“‘You might see that the love of the sport was in Willie Mays, Derek,” Jackson mentioned. “‘The manner he went about it once you noticed him in spring coaching, I realized to put on my uniform the way in which that Willie Mays did. I didn’t have the lengthy pants and the heels over the spikes. I realized by watching Willie Mays – he was the primary man to get his uniform tapered. Him and Mickey Mantle.
“‘The manner he confirmed the love of the sport, the way in which he revered the sport. Even when he had a criticism about what could had been occurring with minorities or no matter, in his period, Derek, he didn’t discuss it. He liked the sport a lot that he refrained. But my admiration for him was how he went about it, and the way he confirmed folks like me following him the best way to play.'”
Both Mays and Jackson handled racism on their baseball journeys in Birmingham, as Jackson performed his Double-A ball with the then-Kansas City A’s in Birmingham in 1967 earlier than ultimately making his massive league debut that 12 months.
Willie Mays visits PS 46 in Harlem, subsequent to the location of the previous Polo Grounds, the place the New York Giants performed earlier than shifting to San Francisco in 1958, on Jan. 21, 2011, in New York City. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
“When folks ask me a query like that, coming again right here will not be straightforward,” Jackson mentioned.
But Jackson, in addition to everybody in “The Magic City” on Thursday evening, understood the significance of shining a light-weight on the Negro Leagues and Rickwood Field – the oldest ballpark in America.
Before the sport started, Mays’ son, Michael, instructed the group at Rickwood to cheer as loud as they may for his late father, who he mentioned was listening.
Reggie Jackson mentioned Willie Mays, who handed away on Tuesday peacefully at residence, was his all-time favourite participant. (Getty Images)
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Those cheers ultimately changed into a “Willie! Willie!” chant that lasted some time, as many former Negro Leagues gamers stood with the Giants and Cardinals on the sector.
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