Willie Mays1 was born in Westfield Alabama in 1931 and is considered by many to be the greatest all-around player in the history of the game of baseball. He ranks among the all-time leaders in home runs, hits, runs scored, and RBI’s. Willie played for the New York/San Francisco Giants 1951-1972 and the New York Mets 1972-73. He had a .301 lifetime batting average, 660 home runs, 3,293 hits, and 1,909 RBI’s. Mays died this past summer on June 18, 2024.
Another baseball great, Lefty Gomez2 was born in Rodeo California on the south coast of San Pablo Bay, northeast of San Francisco. He had a passion for the game of baseball. In 1930 he made the roster of the New York Yankees and quickly became an ace pitcher. Lefty pitched from 1930-1943 and complied a win-loss record of 189-102, 3.34 earned run average, and 1,468 strikeouts.3
My story begins when I met Willie Mays in February 1989 at the funeral of Lefty Gomez. The funeral mass took place at Our Lady of Loretto church in Novato California. I played the keyboard for the funeral mass that day. At the family’s request we played “Take Me Out to The Ball Game” at the end of the service. When I was leaving the church, I saw Willie signing autographs for some fans. As I approached him Willie said “Do you want my autograph?” Amazed, I nodded yes and reached for the only piece of paper that I had—the sheet music for the song “Take Me Out to The Ball Game”. Willie signed the back page and I thanked him and left. Check out his autograph below on my copy of “Take Me Out to The Ball Game”.
In addition, Willie loved to play golf. After he retired from baseball, golf became a strong passion for him.4
References
- https://www.britannica.com/biography/Willie-Mays
- Lefty, An American Odyssey, Verona Gomez and Lawrence Goldstone, Ballantine Books, New York, 2012.
- https://newworldencyclopedia.org/p/index.php?title=Lefty_Gomez&oldid=1083838
- https://ysn365.com/top-stories/golf707-remembering-willie-mays-and-the-game-of-golf/
