It was an ordinary day. Reading a story posted in my Sunday News "I KNOW A STORY" article titled "Longtime fan had a memorable meeting with Willie Mays." Story was submitted by a fellow named Ed Flick. Began with...In 1951, I was a 10-year-old boy living on East Ross Street in Lancaster. I loved baseball and I used to play imaginary games in my room using a spitball. Willie Mays' rookie year for the New York Giants was 1951. He was my favorite player, so I became a New York Giant baseball fan. And, I remained a New York/San Francisco Giant baseball fan for 73 years. Of course, I took a lot of grief from Phillies fans. In June 2004 I was employed by Fulton Bank. One of our affiliate banks was Hagerstown Trust. I had an appointment with the bank president, Don Harsh, to call on a customer. We started talking baseball and he told held me he was a Baltimore Orioles fan and I told him I was a San Francisco Giants fan. He told me that Willie Mays was coming to the Clarion Hotel in Hagerstown, Maryland, on August 9, and asked if I would like to hear him speak. Would I? Of course I would! He had been my favorite player since 1951. I had read in Willie's biography, "Say Hey," that when he played his first professional baseball game, at age 19, it was for the Trenton Giants against the Hagerstown Braves on June 20, 1954. He said that Hagerstown was the worst for racial prejudice of anyplace he had ever played, and he would never return there. He was forced to stay at the all-Black Harmon Hotel. Several of the white players on the team came to visit him. Now, 54 years later he was invited back to Hagerstown. After inviting me to hear Willie speak, Don Harsh called me again and asked if I would like to go to see Willie throw out the first pitch at the Hagerstown Tourists game. I was on vacation in Lewes, Delaware, that week, but was only too happy to make the drive to see Willie throw out the first pitch. The street in front of Municipal Stadium was to be renamed Willie Mays Way in his honor. Now, two weeks before I was going to hear Willie speak, I received another phone call from Don Harsh. He told me he had it arranged that I will be meeting Willie Mays and he will autograph sports items for me. Now, that day had arrived and I am sitting in the lobby of the Clarion Hotel, wearing my San Francisco Giants hat. Willie walked toward me and I got to have a one-on-one conversation with him. I told him that he was my favorite player and that I have been a longtime Giants fan. During our conversation he was a perfect gentleman. I had brought with me a photo, baseball cards and a baseball to be autographed. I joined the line to have him sign my memorabilia. We were told we could only have one item signed. When it was my turn in line I gave Willie an 8-by-10 photo of him in a New York Giants uniform and I asked him where this photo was taken. He told me it was spring training in Phoenix, Arizona, in 1954. As I was leaving, Willie whispered to me, "After I am done signing for everyone, come back and I will autograph your baseball." And he did! About one week later, I received in the mail a 9-by-12 photograph of Willie and me, which now sits on my desk - a reminder of a very special day for me, Aug. 9, 2004. The author lives in West Lampeter Township. Baseball great Willie Mays died June 18, 2024.
If only that had been me! Willie was my all-time favorite baseball player and I find it hard to imagine being that close to him and being able to talk with him...well, I envy Mr. Ed Flick so much. I'm sure he realizes how lucky he was to get to meet, talk with, and have autographs signed by Willie Mays, perhaps the greatest baseball player who ever played the game of baseball. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy.
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| Willie making his famous over-the-shoulder catch! |
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| Willie Mays...The Say Hey! Kid |
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