In 2000, after I published my first book about another Black athlete, Rubin (Hurricane) Carter, I wanted to write the first comprehensive biography of Willie Mays, but I needed his cooperation.

“They got a kid playing center field practically barefooted that’s the best ballplayer I ever looked at,” Montague reported, according to a book ... in the biography “Willie Mays: The ...

Willie Mays ... averages than Mr. Mays’s. There have been swifter base runners and a few more-prolific sluggers over the decades. But Mr. Mays could do it all: The record book says no one ...

Remembering Willie Mays: Where to find all of our coverage It’s that version of the nickname’s origin that is recognized in Mays’ own authorized biography written by James L. Hirsch and ...

Long after "The Catch" and his 660 home runs, and the daring sprints around the bases with his hat falling off, Willie Mays could still command a room like no other. Mays was a frequent visitor to ...

For young African-Americans growing up in the 1960s and 1970s role models who weren’t family were usually athletes. Willie Mays was at the top of that list, not so much for how he played baseball, but ...

He wasn't just about skill, but flair, too. Mays loved being an entertainer on the field. Jim Hirsch wrote the authorized biography, "Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend." JIM HIRSCH: Willie liked ...

Willie Mays, whose unmatched collection of skills ... with his name a constant throughout baseball's hallowed record book and his defensive prowess -- epitomized by "The Catch" in Game 1 of ...

The first time I met Willie ... grip. Mays’s fingers were like cigars. “He has Wes Unseld’s hands,” I thought. Because Unseld is 6-foot-7 and 245 pounds in the NBA record book and Mays ...