Willie Mays’ death last week has led to reflections about the Candlestick Park-sized footprint the greatest San Francisco Giant left behind.
When Willie Mays faced housing discriminationBefore he even played a game in San Francisco, Mays grabbed headlines in The City’s civil-rights struggle. In 1957, a realtor’s refusal to sell Mays a home in St. Francis Wood — purely because he was Black — made front-page news throughout The City. Broussard said such abuse was commonplace for Black San Franciscans at the time. He told The Examiner that San Francisco remains the only city in which he has been physically stopped by police, recalling being stopped and frisked “all the time.”
But Mays’ perceived silence on such issues elicited criticism from some of his peers, particularly Robinson, who once called Mays “a do-nothing Negro.” “I can’t stand on a soap box,” he said. “People like Mr. King and Mr. Wilkins are better equipped than I.” “Willie was not able to speak out as someone like Jackie Robinson, Muhammad Ali or Bill Russell, because he just didn’t come from that world,” he said.
How Willie Mays empowered Black AmericansBaseball historian Phil Dixon said he still remembers the first time he truly understood Mays’ magnificence. “Somebody hit a ball, and Bobby Bonds was in left field, and Willie was playing in center,” he said. “They collided and Willie was knocked out — and the umpire ran out, and Willie still had the ball in his glove. And I said, ‘Now that’s what I want to do.’”
To Dixon, Broussard, and others, Mays’ excellence, charisma and charm, showcased on one of America’s biggest stages — the baseball field — was hugely important, especially during the fraught time in which played. He said that when he became old enough to learn about the realities of racism, he “didn’t understand it.”