Say Hey! Giants icon celebrates 92nd birthday
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SAN FRANCISCO — During a latest interview in Houston, Giants supervisor Gabe Kapler was requested who can be on his Mount Rushmore of outfielders. Kapler may solely identify two that he felt “100 percent sure on”: Mike Trout and Willie Mays.
“Willie Mays is probably my No. 1,” Kapler stated. “There’s a lot of other great options to fill that ballot out, but Willie is maybe the greatest player that ever lived.”
Mays’ legacy will likely be entrance of thoughts on Saturday, when baseball’s oldest dwelling Hall of Famer celebrates his 92nd birthday. The Say Hey Kid doesn’t come out to the ballpark as typically as he used to on account of his restricted mobility, however he stays a continuing presence round Oracle Park.
The Giants paid homage to Mays by erecting a statue in entrance of the stadium, which is situated at 24 Willie Mays Plaza and options 24 palm bushes, in addition to a 24-foot wall out in proper area.
Kapler met Mays shortly after he was employed because the Giants’ supervisor in November 2019 and stated he’s glad he nonetheless has video from their first interplay. While Mays’ legendary stats — 660 residence runs, 24 All-Star Game appearances, 12 Gold Gloves, two National League MVP Awards — could make him appear nearly bigger than life, Kapler stated he discovered the Giants icon to be comparatively simple to speak to.
“It makes it feel like you’re closer to all of that performance and all of the stories that you hear in the books that you read as a kid and the baseball cards that you look at,” Kapler stated. “Just having his presence makes you are feeling nearer to a special period of baseball, and clearly, to a legend’s efficiency.
“It’s hard not to be intimidated by his career and his life and his legacy. But I did find him to be very approachable.”
The Giants will honor Mays on Saturday by internet hosting the incoming class and the primary graduating class of Willie Mays Scholars, a program that creates extra instructional alternatives for Black youth in San Francisco. Each Willie Mays Scholar receives roughly $70,000 price of educational, mentoring and monetary assist, together with a $20,000 faculty scholarship.
