The Feast of Willie the Greatest

Remember Feast Days? They’re back. At least for one glorious Friday afternoon, when we rightfully celebrate.

Please remember: I’m no poet. I’m no Carson Cistulli.

Willie the Greatest

Life: Willie friggin’ Mays. Fourth all-time with 163.2 WAR. One of only five baseball players to eclipse the 150 WAR-mark. In center field, Mays flew.

Spiritual Exercise: Mays twice hit 50 home runs in a season; 51 in 1955, and 52, 10 years later, in 1965. Even time appreciated Willie Howard Mays, Jr.

A Prayer for Willie Mays:

Before my time,
Came Willie Mays.
A student of baseball history,
I learned: GOAT.
Willie Mays!
Before “The Catch,”
Before the home runs,
The MVP and World Series trophies,
Mays, a rookie in 1951, hitless in his first 12 Major League at-bats.
Lucky 13: a home run.
Against Warren Spahn, no less.
He’d hit 659 more, 17 more off Spahn.
Willie Mays!
New York, San Francisco, and back to New York.
A Giant, in baseball and in life.
Walk through AT&T Park
and look for Ted Williams’ words on the wall:
“They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.”
It’s true,
They did.
Eighty-years old today,
but forever just a Kid.
Say Hey!

Image courtesy blackathlete.net.