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.

Dave Fleming:

Every single one of us who cares about the Giants, who’s part of this Giants family, is a friend of Willie Mays, and always will be.

Mike Krukow:

He won the hearts on the East coast, he won the hearts on the West coast, and everybody in between.

And:

We all loved him, he was our guy. He was the guy who taught us the basket catch, and who didn’t try to catch the basket catch?

Duane Kuiper:

Willie made sure his cap fell off.

Jon Miller, narrating a five minute tribute film:

The best there ever was.

You should also watch “The Catch” section of Ken Burns’ Baseball, which describes just how smart and athletic Willie was. Archived at The Internet Archive (jump to 1:14:16).

During the game, every Giants player wore Willie’s number 24. They won in a dramatic, bottom-of-the-ninth-inning comeback after being down 4-0 to win 5-4: Double to center, bunt to third, sacrifice fly to left, ground ball to center, walk, sacrifice fly to center, intentional walk, walk to end the game. Willie would be proud.

I never got a chance to see the Say Hey Kid play live, but he was always part of my baseball life growing up in New York, and later living in San Francisco. He was the soul of the Giants. He’ll be missed.