Willie Mays holds a revered place in the hearts and minds of New York area baseball fans, with memories of him patrolling the depths of the Polo Grounds that evoke visions of a man walking on water. How Mays made his way to the Polo Grounds is one of the most interesting journies in all of baseball's history. Author John Klima meticulously traced the path that a teenage Willie Mays took from Birmingham to the big leagues. "Willie's Boys: The 1948 Birmingham Black Barons, The Last Negro League World Series, and the Making of a Baseball Legend" puts you on a seat right next to Mays on the bus for the entire ride.
"Willie's Boys" tells the story of how an entire baseball community came together in Birmingham to cultivate the talents of a future baseball legend. Imagine being the holder of a prized diamond, and at every turn, someone is trying to steal it from you. You now have a sense of the pressure that Birmingham Black Barons manager Piper Davis faced while trying to bring Mays through the ranks of the Negro Leagues. Davis had the responsibility of being a coach as well as a father figure to the son of one of his former industrial league teammates. You will join Davis, who was a fine player in his own right, as well former teammates Bill Greason, Artie Wilson, Jim Zapp and a young batboy by the name of Bobby Veale, as they provide first hand testimony of developing the "awful" 16 year-old outfielder with the rocket arm.
This book differs greatly from Mays' soon-to-be released biography from Simon and Schuster. The focus of "Willie's Boys" is solely on Mays' career prior to his 1951 debut with the New York Giants. Knowing that Mays was working on his biography, Klima said in an interview that he told Mays, "You're big league career belongs to you." This allowed Klima to go deeper into the careers of Mays' established teammates. While Mays might have been the brightest star on the field, the personalities of Davis, Greason, Wilson, etc. shine just as bright in this work as the play of their young outfield captain.
There is wonderful detail given to Mays' courtship by not only the New York Giants, but also the Boston Red Sox, Boston Braves, Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Yankees that has not been previously published. Imagine Mays in the same outfield as Ted Williams, Hank Aaron, Duke Snider, or Mickey Mantle. The accounts of how close these teams were to signing Mays is worth the purchase alone. Add in Klima's fine writing style, relevant interviews with his former teammates, opponents and scouts, and you have an excellent read for any aficionado.
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