Willie Mays Final Message to Major League Baseball Fans
“In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won’t be able to do this.” Yes, Willie Mays gave everything he had to the sport he loved and he said many insightful and inspiring things over his extraordinary lifetime. However, just a few days ago, baseball lovers got a chance to read Willie Mays final message to Major League Baseball fans.
Some may of missed it. But throughout his statement you could still feel his profound excitement and enthusiasm with every word. Speaking on this week’s Rickwood Field events, Willie Mays says,
“I wish I could come out to Rickwood Field this week to be with you all and enjoy that field with my friends.
Rickwood’s been part of my life for all of my life.
Since I was a kid. It was just “around the corner there” from Fairfield and it felt like it had been there forever. Like a church. The first big thing I ever put my mind to was to play at Rickwood Field. It wasn’t a dream. It was something I was going to do. I was going to work hard to be one of the Birmingham Black Barons and play ball at Rickwood Field. That’s what I did. It was my start. My first job. You never forget that. Rickwood Field is where I played my first home game, and playing there was IT; everything I wanted. I’d like to be there, but I don’t move as well as I used to. So I’m going to watch from my home.
But it will be good to see that. I’m glad that the Giants, Cardinals and MLB are doing this, letting everyone get to see pro ball at Rickwood Field. Good to remind people of all the great ball that has been played there, and all the players. All these years and it is still here. So am I. How about that?”
Willie Mays Final Message to Major League Baseball Fans
Well said Mr. Mays. Baseball at Rickwood is a very good thing. Moreover, Major League Baseball explains further the importance of this week’s festivities. The MLB reveals,
“The center of the baseball universe this week is Birmingham, Ala., where Major League Baseball is paying tribute to the Negro Leagues with a series of games at Rickwood Field, the oldest ballpark in the United States and the site of the final Negro League World Series in October 1948. It is the place where Willie Mays is from, and the ballpark where he began his storied career in professional baseball as a 17-year-old with the Birmingham Black Barons that same year.
On Wednesday night, another game will be played at Rickwood Field. A celebrity softball contest dubbed “Barnstorm Birmingham,” between the Hammers (named after Hank Aaron) and the Say Heys, with honorary captains Derek Jeter and Giants legend Barry Bonds, who is also Mays’ godson.
All part of the push to recognize both Mays and his contemporaries, whose origin story for so long had gone unrecognized, and the sport he dedicated his whole life to will make every effort to ensure the love he poured into the game is returned in kind.”
Wonderful. Willie Mays was one of the best to ever toss a ball or swing a bat. And it’s admirable to see how much he loved America’s Favorite pastime to the very end.
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