Say Hey, Willie Mays!

Say Hey, Willie Mays! Is a very good documentary of the story of the greatest baseball player ever to live - Willie Mays!! Originally brought up to the New York Giants in 1951, Mays was a five tool player meaning that he could hit, hit for power, run, field his position, and throw. A little known fact discovered by this HBO documentary is that Leo Durocher, Mays' first manager in New York, is now given credit for coining the five tool phrase that is so thrown around today in baseball circles. After getting off to a good start in his career in New York, Mays led the Giants to the 1954 World Series against the heavily favored Cleveland Indians where he made THE most famous catch in all of baseball history off of Indians' player Vic Wertz. Wertz hit a deep drive to center field and Mays - playing centerfield as he always did - sprinted back and made an amazing basket catch FIRING the ball back to the infield in a whirling motion at the same time preventing any of the Cleveland players from advancing on the base paths! There are dozens of testimonials in the documentary ranging from sports broadcasters like Bob Costas to the late Vin Scully, and of course athletes like Reggie Jackson to Mays' godson himself Barry Bonds. The writers of the documentary did the research well and presented the documentary in an organized, chronological time line. If you are a fan of Mays, the San Francisco Giants, the New York Mets, or really baseball in general then this is the documentary for you as you will learn a lot about America's hidden treasure, and the best baseball player of all-time!! My rare 9 out of 10 stars!!

After hearing he'd recently passed away at 93, I decided to learn more about the great Willie Mays. Hardly knew much beyond his celebrity status as a baseball legend and *real-life status as Barry Bonds' godfather. Thankfully, this profile goes into a lot more depth! Say Hey takes a valiant stab at communicating the enormity of Willie's cultural influence some ~50 years after he retired. It touches on all the "bases" of his life from Fairfield to Birmingham to Harlem to San Francisco, and shares entertaining anecdotes from each stop.

By interviewing icons like Bob Costas, Vin Scully, Dr. Harry Edwards, Jon Miller and Bonds himself, Say Hey also frames his career within the broader American context. It outlines his real and perceived responsibilities - both on and off the diamond - to assess his full impact. Though he took some heat for being soft-spoken during an era of vocal activism and protest, I felt he explained himself rather well: "I can't stand on a soapbox and preach. Martin Luther King Jr and Roy Wilkins are better equipped for that than I am... I've worked for Job Corps and I don't know how many kids groups I've addressed, and will continue to address. In my own way I believe I'm helping, and in my heart my way is just as important as Jackie Robinson's way. I believe understanding is the important thing... because we are all God's children fighting for the same cause."

Such moments of grace and perspective are dotted throughout the movie and juxtapose Willie's everyman kindness alongside his unique athletic talent. By the end we see what Costas means when he shrugs, "Willie Mays was as much about joy as greatness." His life was a fine story and this film does a fine job of telling it.

Willie Mays was arguably the most complete baseball player of all time and this documentary provides ample evidence of his exploits while also delving into his personal life and behind the scenes challenges. This does a great job of weaving interviews with archival footage. It is exciting to be able to watch his flawless stroke of the bat and his amazing fielding ability once again. The only flaws in this doc are the failure to mention Oscar Charelston, who was Willie Mays three decades earlier and who Willie owed his style, especially the famed "basket catch".

Also, the film shows the strong personal relationship between Willie and Barry Bonds but never mentions steroids. Willie leads the call to let Bonds into the Hall of Fame, which is odd for someone who always exemplified class and a respect for the game but understandable given their close personal bond (ha).

This is a mediocre documentary and I would probably give it a 3 or a 4, but, the continual comments that Willie Mays was the best baseball player ever is just nonsense. I grew up in the 50s and 60s in NYC when the Yankees, Giants, and Dodgers were still there. Between 1951 and 1973 when Mays was active the Giants won the World Series ONCE. When Mickey Mantle was on the Yankees they won 5 times. Mantle and Mays both averaged about 31 home runs per year. They both had lifetime avg of about 300 but Mantle had many more RBIs p/y. Mays hit best 52 homers, Mantle 54. Mantle could switch hit. Anyhow, I always thought Mantle was better as did many others. But what about Babe Ruth? Neither Mays nor Mantle compared to Ruth. And if you want to push the "Black" thing, what about Jackie Robinson? Willie Mays was great. One of the greatest, no doubt. But they detract from the documentary with the claim he was the best.

After reportedly years of being pursued for documentary purposes, Willie Mays finally relented--and there's no better source to do it justice than HBO Sports. In "Say Hey, Willie Mays!", viewers are treated to expert analyses of Mays' on and off-field career--including thoughts from the man himself!

The first thing that jumps out to viewers here is how thoughtful, articulate, and engaged Willie Mays is with the proceedings. Roughly 90 years of age as of filming, he is clearly sound in mind and body. Hearing--straight from his mouth--stories of baseball's golden age is delightful.

In terms of the "baseball stuff", luminaries such as Vin Scully, Bob Costas, Reggie Jackson, Juan Marichal, Orlando Cepeda, and John Shea (Willie's official biographer) take care of that, and HBO's unique visual presentation keeps everything fresh. All the high points and famous stories of Willie are accounted for here.

Off the field, Willie's racial status is delved into quite a bit--but in interesting and not at all pandering ways. An example: Mays--despite being as big of a sports star as San Francisco had ever seen--denied housing in certain parts of town in the 1960s. While Mays often came under fire (from fellow baseball star Jackie Robinson, in particular) for not being more outspoken on racial issues, director Nelson George does a very nuanced job of explaining all the behind-the-scenes ways in which Mays actually did contribute to furthering race relations. As one figure states: "not everyone can be Muhammad Ali". Willie, instead, largely let his play do the talking and did not want much publicity for his actions.

There is a decent amount of material here about Mays' relationship with Barry Bonds (including interview snippets from the now-tainted slugger himself). While some might criticize the steroid issue not even being hinted at, I'm sure that was the only way to garner Bonds' participation. I'm glad it played out the way it did, as I didn't realize the bond those two shared until viewing this doc.

Overall, I was highly entertained by "Say Hey" and even learned some new Mays details/insights. Some of the archived footage I had certainly never seen before. In other words, HBO Sports remains the undisputed king of documentaries.