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Willie Mays
Summary
Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball's bold expansion to California. He was a blend of power, speed, and stylistic bravado that enraptured fans for more than two decades. Now. James Hirsch reveals the man behind the player.
Mays was a transcendent figure who received standing ovations in enemy stadiums and who, during the turbulent civil rights era, urged understanding and reconciliation. More than his records, his legacy is defined by the pure joy that he brought to fans and the loving memories that have been passed to future generations so they might know the magic and beauty of the game. With meticulous research and drawing on interviews with Mays himself as well as with close friends, family, and teammates, Hirsch presents a brilliant portrait of one of America's most significant cultural icons.
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- Peter
- 12-05-13
Mays Still Hits The Ball Out of the Park
Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?
Yes. The book did a very good job of giving a broad spectrum view of a simple, hard working man, who overcame much, remained very humble and did a lot of good for humanity, even to this day at age 80
What was one of the most memorable moments of Willie Mays?
His caring for Johnny Roseboro durning a brawl between the Giants and Dodgers showed the depth of his character and his humanness.
What does Adam Grupper bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?
He brought old memories back to life as if they were actually happening anew.
Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?
Hearing of Mays' care for his ailing wife, who has now, just recently, passed away.
Any additional comments?
All baseball fans deserve to learn about Willie Mays and to see how he contributed in a very different way than "Number 21" in bringing the black athlete up in society in general.
2 of 2 people found this review helpful
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- Ernie G
- 24-02-18
Great book
Loved every second of the story of my all time favorite. Made me love Willie more
1 of 1 people found this review helpful
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- Steven
- 18-07-17
If You Love Baseball... Learn about Willie
I have dedicated much of my time to listening to audible's great selection of baseball audiobooks. I have come to notice that when it comes to player biographies this is the style I enjoy the most. I know that sports writers do not like to post the players box scores in their books and want to go deeper, but Willie Mays has books written about him because he may be the greatest baseball player of all time. This book along with The Kid about Ted Williams finds a great balance of telling stories about the man and his life, and actually making you understand what the ballplayer did day in and day out. I love the detail, I love going season by season through Willie May's experience. I love getting to hear about the great World Series this Giant of the game played in. It is the next best thing to getting to watch Willie Mays play ball throughout his career which I did not have the opportunity to do. I also want to mention that with all the great game by game accounts, this book goes deep into the issues Willie went through in his personal life. The way he was perceived as a high profile African American man in a time when that was especially difficult. This is a well rounded book it fits the term comprehensive,and I am really glad I learned about Willie Mays.
7 of 10 people found this review helpful
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- Michael Mahon
- 21-05-19
More than a baseball book
Hear about the Civil Rights movement and life lessons through the life of the greatest baseball player of all time, Willie Mays.
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- Darryl Purpose
- 25-04-19
even if you don’t like baseball...
... but if you do, this chock full of amazing tidbits, as well as a complete story of of one of the US great athletes. They sugar coat very little, and we get the inside baseball (pun intended) on stories you know.
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- HappyCustomer
- 13-12-18
Say Hey
Great coverage of a great career unfortunately the narrator mispronounced many familiar baseball names from all eras.
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- SouthwestDude
- 29-08-18
Ruined by terrible narration
It’s a good and solid retelling of the great May’s life., unfortunately it’s marred by a goofy narrator who, ostensibly, doesn’t know diddly about baseball and can’t pronounce famous players names like Marichal and Cepeda or, as he calls them - Jim BOOTIN and Tom HOLLER. It’s maddening and will make real fans nuts. Further, it’s publicized as having an interview with the ads Hey Kid but it’s not on this spoken version of the book. I wished I’d simply gotten the book and read it myself.
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- J. Ash
- 28-08-18
G re eat baseball history about a great player
This is a well writen book about,one of the greatest player to put on a uniform
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- Damian
- 10-08-18
As a 1958 Baby Boomer, Pro Football had
supplanted Major League baseball as the sport of my youth and peers, so this biography was very revealing and told a wonderful story about a sports icon of whom I knew next to nothing and who was - as pointed out - “not a credit to his race, but a credit to the human race.” As such, Willie Mays actual story and the authors richly detailed events deserves 5 stars. Unfortunately the understandable bias of his biographer is so pronounced it gilds the Lilly - ( at best) and at worst lends a stridency that, in my mind, rendered the telling almost a harangue. Not a satisfying chronicle of an amazing American, but a highly editorialized history that I found unnecessary and overly conclusory.
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- Douglas
- 06-08-18
Very good and enjoyable
Perfect for the Willie Mays fan, and who doesn’t like Willie. Well written and performed well.