Speaking of the Say Hey Kid, when he first moved with the Giants to San Francisco from New York, racist neighbors made it difficult for him to buy a house in the Sherwood Forest neighborhood. That’s just a mile from where I currently live, and a few minutes walk from a friends’ house.

One of the neighbors who pressured the seller to renege on the deal reportedly said

Certainly I objected. I happen to have quite a few pieces of property in that area and I stand to lose a lot if colored people move in.

Here’s a brief interview with Willie at the time where he seems quite calm about the whole matter.

While Willie eventually bought the home thanks to pressure from the mayor, he never felt welcome in the area. He later bought another home, this time in Forest Hill, the neighborhood I currently live in, where the neighbors seemed less racist.

The San Francisco Chronicle ran the story under the headline Willie Mays Is Denied S.F. House—Race Issue. In it, the same racist neighbor is also quoted as saying

Do you realize how much money you’ll lose?

I guess it was all about “economics” in 1957, too.