Willie Mays turns 75 on Saturday, and John Shea has a great article in today's Chronicle in which Mays looks back on his life in baseball. It's full of great stuff like this:
On his favorite memento
Mays set more records than he can remember, but what he cherishes most is his scouting report. It's typewritten and dated May 6-10, 1951, when he was with Triple-A Minneapolis.
Some excerpts: "Everything that he does is sensational."... "(He) has made the most spectacular catches, runs and throws with the best of them." ..."Sensational negro boy is the outstanding player in Minneapolis club and probably in all minor leagues for that matter." ..."He is now in one of the best hitting streaks imaginable." ... "(He) hits to all fields and hits all pitches."
A few days after the scouting report was filed, Mays was a major-leaguer, at age 20. In 35 games at Minneapolis, he hit .477 with eight homers and 30 RBIs.
Getting called to the big leagues, he said, was his biggest career thrill.
Happy birthday, Mr. Mays.
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