Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds speak at Willie Mays celebration

Former President Bill Clinton hugs former San Francisco Giants’ slugger Barry Bonds during a public celebration of life for former San Francisco Giants player and Bonds godfather Willie Mays at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 8, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

SAN FRANCISCO — If the shower of flowers at the foot of his statue, or last week’s pregame tribute in front of 40,000 fans, served as a chance for the Giants fan base to pay public respects to their beloved Willie Mays, then the affairs on a cloudless Monday evening at Oracle Park took on the feeling of an intimate celebration of the late, great ballplayer’s closest friends.

In a testament to Mays’ stature, it was no ordinary lineup of speakers who took their turns at the dais in front of the pitcher’s mound, flanked by two bushels of orange roses, or via video messages on the scoreboard.

Baseball’s all-time home-run king, his godson.

One President of the United States, Bill Clinton, in the first row, and another, Barack Obama, on the scoreboard.

A half-dozen fellow members of the Baseball Hall of Fame.

With Jon Miller as the master of ceremonies narrating a tour of his exploits, from the Birmingham Barons to his final games with the Giants two-and-a-half decades later, the greats on stage shared a sentiment that spoke even more of Mays, who died last month at the age of 93.

Former San Francisco Giant’s Felipe Alou speaks during a public celebration of life for former San Francisco Giants player Willie Mays at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 8, 2024. To the left are former San Francisco Giants Juan Marichal, Joe Amalfitano and Dusty Baker, and to the right is host and Hall of Fame broadcaster Jon Miller. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

The gates of 24 Willie Mays Plaza were wide open for anyone to attend, and approximately 4,500 took the opportunity to remember Mays for more than two hours with his son, Michael Mays, Dusty Baker, Barry Bonds, Joe Torre, commissioner Rob Manfred, Juan Marichal, Felipe Alou, Joe Amalfitano and many more.

Pointing to the sky after delivering his first public remarks in the wake of his godfather’s death, Bonds echoed his reaction when his father, Bobby, died in 2003.

“Thank you,” Bonds said, clasping his fist in the air. “Thank you. Fifty-five years ago, you put your arm around a 5-year-old boy and said, ‘Hey kid, you’re coming with me.’ I knew at that moment what I wanted to be, and that was a professional baseball player like my father and Willie.”

Speaking for approximately five minutes, Bonds said Mays adopted him “like a second son” but that “talking about one without the other seems kind of strange to me because I couldn’t have learned everything about the game of baseball without my father and Willie.”

Bonds’ remarks preceded those from Mays’ son, Michael, and followed a recorded message from the 44th president of the United States, who focused on the impact the ballplayer had on the civil rights movement. In 2015, Obama presented Mays the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor a civilian can receive.

“A strong argument can be made that he is the greatest baseball player to have ever lived, but Willie Mays’ impact on our culture goes far beyond statistics,” Obama said. “As one of the major leagues’ first Black players, Willie’s excellence and the sheer beauty of his game … ended up bridging our nation’s racial divide. Black or white, you could appreciate Mays’ unbridled enthusiasm, his work ethic, his inherent dignity and graciousness.

“Alongside other (greats) like Jackie Robinson and Hank Aaron, Willie’s popularity would change attitudes that political speeches alone never could.”

Michael Mays, son of former San Francisco Giants player Willie Mays, becomes emotional while speaking during a public celebration of life for him at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 8, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

It all started when the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958 and Mays was tasked with finding a place to live. Initially denied his residence of choice because of the color of his skin, Mays “changed the housing laws in San Francisco and eventually California,” former Mayor Willie Brown said. “All because Willie Mays said fair housing is equal.”

Once he got settled, Mays delighted a nascent fanbase in San Francisco, which didn’t have major-league baseball until the Giants moved west — with their young new sensation in tow — in 1958.

“None of us liked baseball until Willie Mays came along,” joked Brown, one of four former or current mayors in attendance, who developed a friendship through Mays’ continuous civic involvement.

The remarks delivered by the pair of former presidents came as a surprise, with neither listed on the program of speakers. But sitting next to Brown in the first row on the first base line, Miller introduced “the 42nd President of the United States and a friend of Willie Mays,” who was greeted by one of the largest cheers of the evening.

“He gave me a chance to realize what real greatness is — a curious combination of intelligence, dedication, a will to win and a fundamental humility,” said Clinton, who shared the story of his first time meeting Mays, asking him questions for three hours “like a kid in a candy store” when the game in 2000 he was supposed to attend was rained out, and later developed a friendship on the golf course.

Former President Bill Clinton speaks during a public celebration of life for former San Francisco Giants player Willie Mays at Oracle Park in San Francisco, Calif., on Monday, July 8, 2024. (Jane Tyska/Bay Area News Group)

“I loved playing golf with him, but I was appalled the first time we played,” Clinton said. “He had these old clubs and I swear he had masking tape on them. I said let me give you a set of golf clubs, and he said no. … He beat me anyway.”

The golf course is also where Mays made his biggest impact on his godson.

“Most of the time it was Monday, Wednesday and Friday at the golf course,” Bonds said. “Willie and my dad would play golf and reminisce about the old days. That’s when you got real talk with real knowledge of the game. Willie and my father would tell me stories about each at-bat, who they faced, how they approached it. They even went back to the days (of segregation) when they had to go in the backdoor of the restaurant just to get some food.”

Mays was always willing to help, as represented by the audience seated in black folding chairs encircling home plate. There were dozens of former Giants whom Mays touched as a frequent and available guest in the home clubhouse and a helping of Willie Mays scholars, whom he provided scholarships to continue their education.

“Willie Mays was the greatest player,” Baker said. “The thing I loved about Willie was, just like they said, he’d always ask you, ‘What do you need?’”

And then the 4,500 or so fans in the stands behind them, whose lives Mays touched without even knowing it.

Malcolm Heinicke, the lawyer in charge of Mays’ “Say Hey” Foundation, incorporated them into the ceremony, too, leading a spirited call and response of three “Say Hey” chants, “to send some joy right up through this clear sky, before the seagulls get here, right to Willie.”

“Thank you Willie Mays,” Manfred concluded his comments, “for all your contributions, you were a true Giant of baseball.”

Source link

Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds speak at Willie Mays celebration

Indian bonds inclusion in Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index deferred, review open

Japanese bonds decline as Takaichi gears up for political gamble

A Guide to Investor Security

The Shifting Landscape of Art Investment and the Rise of Accessibility: The London Art Exchange

Mutual Funds assets grow 92% as investors increase patronage

Charlie Cobham: The Art Broker Extraordinaire Maximizing Returns for High Net Worth Clients

The Unyielding Resilience of the Art Market: A Historical and Contemporary Perspective

Mutual Funds assets grow 92% as investors increase patronage

Focused Fund Explained: Definition, Functionality, and Examples

Indian bonds inclusion in Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index deferred, review open

7 Dividend ETFs I’d Buy Today and Hold for the Next 20 Years

EDITOR'S PICK

Hotel Property Investments Sees Growth in Charter Hall Stake

SIP Trunking Services Market Trends and Regional Analysis

Centre injects ₹211 crore into Indian space sector under ‘fund of funds for startups’ scheme: Goyal

Our Picks

Mutual Funds assets grow 92% as investors increase patronage

Focused Fund Explained: Definition, Functionality, and Examples

Indian bonds inclusion in Bloomberg Global Aggregate Index deferred, review open

Most Popular

🔥Juve target Chukwuemeka, Inter raise funds, Elmas bid in play 🤑

💵 Libra responds after Flamengo takes legal action and ‘freezes’ funds

₹10,000 monthly SIP in this mutual fund has grown to ₹1.52 crore in 22 years

Bill Clinton, Barry Bonds speak at Willie Mays celebration

Related Posts