I had an uncle that played a great role in my life as far as sports. Like I said, in the South we would always play like three or four o’clock in the afternoon. I would have to go to school, and he would do my chores. When I say chores, that means I had to cut the wood, I had to wash the clothes; I had to do everything that everybody in the house had to do. So he would do all that stuff for me, and I was very happy about it because I wasn’t about to mess my arms up and my hands, so I could go and play ball and didn’t have to do too much.
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Willie Mays
Baseball centre fielder; twice National League Most Valuable Player
United States · 1931–2024
Sport
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Willie Mays was an American baseball centre fielder who played twenty-three major league seasons, mostly for the New York and San Francisco Giants. He was a twenty-four-time All-Star, twice National League Most Valuable Player, and is widely regarded as one of the greatest players in the history of the game.
3 answers
I was the first black in that particular league. And, we played in a town called Hagerstown, Maryland. ... I said to myself — and this is why Piper Davis came in — in my mind, “Hey, whatever they call you, they can’t touch you. Don’t talk back.”
My father said to me, “You need a piece of paper to go into a door sometimes.” I didn’t understand about résumés, but when you write a résumé you have to put down things that people want to know about.
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