Some more on mr. Mays

[Rookiemonster]

Originally Posted by JTysver

Who cares. He doesn't have an obligation to anyone, nor does any player. I'd imagine if you can't walk a street anywhere without people bothering you, you'd become pretty surly also.
I have met him before. Nothing spectacular, and also nothing disheartening. He was just signing as a matter of business.

I agree with this . Anyone could be a jerk it doesn't mean your always a jerk.i met Juan marichal guess what didn't say a peep to me no matter what I said or asked. I also heard that he was a jerk to a few other people at this particular signing. I don't think this means he always a jerk.

[David W]

A customer of mine got to meet Willie at his house 2-3 years ago. I forget the details, but a business associate of his knew Willie.

Before they went to the house however, my customer was cautioned by the person taking him there not to mention or ask for any autographs, that if he did Willie would get upset.

He said it was a great conversation time, they talked baseball and other things for several hours and Willie was very gracious and friendly. He got to see and hold some of Willie's memorabilia and I think take pictures as well.

So, clearly something about autograph's upsets Willie Mays.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by JTysver

Who cares. He doesn't have an obligation to anyone, nor does any player. I'd imagine if you can't walk a street anywhere without people bothering you, you'd become pretty surly also.
I have met him before. Nothing spectacular, and also nothing disheartening. He was just signing as a matter of business.

I intensely disagree. He most assuredly does have an obligation to his fans. I understand the instance when you're being mobbed by well-wishers and you're exhausted after a game--you just want to get out of there.

However, when an athlete does a show, they are not being mobbed. Yeah, it is a business, but it IS different. These people standing in line paid that jerk's salary, and they like him, and have cheered for him for almost as long as they've lived. Then Willie turns around and acts like an asshole, rude to the hilt, ignoring people's kindness and compliments and hero-worship----and you have the temerity to suggest he does not owe those people a smile, a "hi", a "thanks for remembering me"? Those people have paid handsomely for that autograph and the privilege to meet Willie Mays. They most certainly were not just paying for that signature. It's the complete package of an autograph and a very brief, positive interaction with Willie. Then he goes and acts like as a jerk to these people and their children, taking the statue they've built in their minds of him, and sledgehammering it to smithereens.

I say, give Willie Mays a big swift kick in the ass, and keep on kicking him until he gets back on his plane. I know. The language is strong. The imagery is something you probably won't forget.

Neither will the people and their children whom Willie "murdered" at all those autograph sessions. He didn't do it to everybody, just plenty enough to earn a well-deserved rancid reputation, and put enough "dead little boys within" to overflow the largest graveyard in America.

---Brian Powell

[hammer]

Brian I hope you are not a Mat Harvey fan try to explain that one to me?

[JollyElm]

I am a ridiculously huuuuuge fan, but since forever I've heard that Willie Mays is the absolute rudest human being on the planet to his fans. For this reason, I have never taken the opportunity to meet him at a show that he was appearing at (uh oh, misuse of a preposition?). This way, the player, the legend will forever stay beautifully intact in my mind, uncorrupted by the butchery of reality.

[Stonepony]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I am a ridiculously huuuuuge fan, but since forever I've heard that Willie Mays is the absolute rudest human being on the planet to his fans. For this reason, I have never taken the opportunity to meet him at a show that he was appearing at (uh oh, misuse of a preposition?). This way, the player, the legend will forever stay beautifully intact in my mind, uncorrupted by the butchery of reality.

It's likely most of our heroes would disappoint us....so your strategy sound like a good one!

[Rookiemonster]

Just reading through the article comment section and as of now not one person who chose to comment has said a signal thing about his rudeness or autograph.
Maybe if your a autograph collector you view Mays diffenertly then most ordinary
Baseball fans. I think if you told a regular fan that likes Willie Mays that when he signs autographs he could be a jerk somethings they won't really care.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by JollyElm

I am a ridiculously huuuuuge fan, but since forever I've heard that Willie Mays is the absolute rudest human being on the planet to his fans. For this reason, I have never taken the opportunity to meet him at a show that he was appearing at (uh oh, misuse of a preposition?). This way, the player, the legend will forever stay beautifully intact in my mind, uncorrupted by the butchery of reality.

Sad to say, because it should not have to be this way, but this is extremely wise. Keep Say Hey at a distance, and keep enjoying him and his amazing baseball skills. I still have this several-second video clip in my mind of an outfield play at Candlestick Park. A surefire double or triple hit ball looked like it was going to careen off the outfield fence. Two Giant fielders are trying to get the ball. All of a sudden here comes Willie Mays flying in. You talk about Mr. Jordan in the air. E-gad! Ballet at five feet in the air. Willie caught the ball before it hit the fence. It was flat-out one of the greatest catches I ever saw.

This is why, a decade and a half before he made this play, the great actress and fellow Alabamian Tallulah Bankhead said there were two geniuses in history---Willie Shakespeare and Willie Mays.

---Brian Powell

[pclpads]

I never understood or fully agreed with this quote. Mays was a supreme ballplayer. Nothing more. But a genius? I'd never rank him with Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jonas Salk, Francis Crick, et. al. True geniuses, all.

[brian1961]

Originally Posted by pclpads

I never understood or fully agreed with this quote. Mays was a supreme ballplayer. Nothing more. But a genius? I'd never rank him with Einstein, Stephen Hawking, Jonas Salk, Francis Crick, et. al. True geniuses, all.

Dave, I feel certain Miss Bankhead simply meant her quip of "genius" as mostly tongue-in-cheek, with a take-off on Shakespearse's first name. It was not meant to be taken that seriously, nor literally. She probably was just a big fan and admirer of Willie Mays, and perhaps thought nobody could make the fielding plays he could.

She shouldda been there when Jose Canseco accidentally muffed a high fly ball, and headed it into the stands for a home run! That gopher ball was one where Mr. C. would have loved to have crawled in "the gopher's hole". That "fielding feat" might be duplicated by someone, but for their sake I hope not!

Nice list of geniuses, though I saw a very convincing documentary about a lady that worked with Francis Crick, who did most of the revealing research, and figured out how to apply it, but never got the credit she rightfully deserved. Crick stole all the credit for himself. A genius of a thief, in retrospect.

The hot stove league never lets up on the Net54baseball.com forums!

---Brian Powell