Baker grateful to have visited Mays a day before Giants icon’s death originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area
While the sports world mourns death of Willie Mays, Dusty Baker reflected on his last visit with the Giants legend, just a day earlier.
Exclusively with USA Today’s Bob NightengaleBaker explained why he decided to visit his close friend Mays at his home in the Bay Area on Monday, the day before the Baseball Hall of Famer’s death.
“There’s something that told me to go see him,” Baker told Nightengale. “My dad always told me that if you’re thinking about someone, don’t put it off. You don’t know if you’ll see them again. Well, I went to see it and thank God I did.”
Baker, now a San Francisco executive, spent nine seasons as the Giants’ manager from 1993 to 2002 and developed a close relationship with Mays. The lifelong baseball figure then expressed the premonitions that prompted him to visit his friend.
“I think of Tupac,” Baker explained to Nightengale. “Death is around the corner. I might feel it a little (Monday).”
Mays’ loss comes just before the The giants are ready to play against the St. Louis Cardinals in the Rickwood field in Birmingham, Alabama, where he began playing professional baseball with the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues.
The game comes on the heels of MLB officially recognizing Negro League player statistics and incorporating them into the Baseball Record Books.
While the game seemed to be a fitting tribute to Mays before his death, the event now takes on even greater importance.
The “Say Hey Kid” is generally regarded as one of the greatest players in baseball history, if not the greatest, for his prowess as a hitter and fielder, and his iconic catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series was one of iconic moments in American history. sports history.
The 24-time MLB All-Star spent 22 seasons with the Giants and moved to San Francisco in 1958 when the franchise moved from New York.
While Mays’ death is sad, Baker can at least take solace in the fact that he got to see his old friend one last time.
