Thousands Honor Giants Legend Willie Mays at Oracle Park Memorial

A public memorial to celebrate the life of San Francisco Giants legend and Hall of Famer Willie Mays was held Monday at Oracle Park with over 4,500 people in attendance, including former President Bill Clinton.

Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson and Dennis Eckersley, former San Francisco Giants players Buster Posey and Johnnie B. “Dusty” Baker Jr. as well as four San Francisco mayors, including Mayor London Breed, showed up to the celebration.

Mays, who played 21 seasons with the Giants and racked up 660 home runs and 338 stolen bases, died June 18 at the age of 93. He was a two-time MVP, a 24-time All-Star, won 12 Gold Glove Awards in Center Field, and was inducted in the Hall of Fame in 1979.

In his speech to the crowd, Clinton said Mays made him realize “what real greatness is.”

“It’s a curious combination of intelligence, dedication, the will to win and a fundamental humility to believe that the effort is the prize,” he said.

Former President Barack Obama, who presented Mays with the Medal of Freedom at the White House in 2015, recorded a message that played on the video board celebrating Mays’ life and contributions to the sport.

From noon to 4 p.m., members of the public were also invited to see an exhibit of rarely seen photographs, artifacts and video chronicling Mays’ life. Several fans sported Giants No. 24 jerseys at the gathering while veterans in the crowd saluted Mays when military officials honored his service in the Korean War, as “Taps” played.

Mays awed his fans with his showmanship and trailblazing talent. Among them was Clark Hancock, who traveled from Nevada to San Francisco for Monday’s event.

“He’s just an amazing guy,” said Hancock. “When he started out, there was segregation, he was from Alabama … but he went through a lot.”

The San Francisco Giants baseball legend known as the “Say Hey Kid” is regarded by many as the greatest all-around baseball player ever. But he may be remembered most for his magic playing center field, iconized most famously in the play known as “The Catch.” Mays, playing in the 1954 World Series for the New York Giants, chased down a fly ball, and caught it over his shoulder with his back to the diamond.

Born Willie Howard Mays, Jr. in 1931 in Westfield, Alabama, he played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the old Negro Leagues before joining the New York Giants in 1951, four years after Jackie Robinson broke baseball’s color barrier. When the Giants and Dodgers moved from New York to California in 1958, Mays was a face of Major League Baseball’s westward expansion.

Mays was known for playing hard and all the time. He rarely missed games. A few times, he collapsed from exhaustion. He is also remembered for making peace in the clubhouse, keeping the focus on the baseball and making everyone feel welcome.

In a statement after May’s passing, San Francisco Mayor London Breed said, “To a native San Franciscan, some things just go without question: it’s foggy in the summer, cable cars go halfway to the stars, and Willie Mays is the best there ever was.”

KQED’s María Fernanda Bernal contributed reporting to this story.