Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend

4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars | 387 ratings

Price: 26.24

Last update: 08-12-2024


About this item

Willie Mays is arguably the greatest player in baseball history, still revered for the passion he brought to the game. He began as a teenager in the Negro Leagues, became a cult hero in New York, and was the headliner in Major League Baseball's bold expansion to California. He was a blend of power, speed, and stylistic bravado that enraptured fans for more than two decades. Now. James Hirsch reveals the man behind the player.

Mays was a transcendent figure who received standing ovations in enemy stadiums and who, during the turbulent civil rights era, urged understanding and reconciliation. More than his records, his legacy is defined by the pure joy that he brought to fans and the loving memories that have been passed to future generations so they might know the magic and beauty of the game. With meticulous research and drawing on interviews with Mays himself as well as with close friends, family, and teammates, Hirsch presents a brilliant portrait of one of America's most significant cultural icons.


Top reviews from the United States

honest Abe
5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful, authorized biography of a legend by an experienced writer
Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2024
Willie Mays was the greatest all-around player I have ever seen. So, when i found this biography by James Hirsch, I was thrilled to be able to find out more about the man himself. After many years of trying Hirsch finally got Mays to authorize the biography and lent his support to the project. The result, in my mind, is a fascinating and thorough presentation of an American legend whose professional career spanned from the last year of the Negro leagues through 1973. Despite having seen Mays play in person and on television, I learned quite a few things about Willie that I had never known. The greatest never drank, smoked tobacco, and was faithful to his sport and to excellence. He wasn't a leader per se as a teammate, but he led by example until Al Dark made him the Captain of the Giants. Willie was a jokester, and fun in the clubhouse, but he didn't socialize much outside of the game. He offered help to teammates when asked but didn't initiate advice. He was as full of life and optimism when he played his game. His joy was evident at age twenty, when he broke in, up until he was traded to the Mets. You will learn of the paternalistic relationship he had with Leo Durocher, and the nurturing that Willie needed to master his trade. He craved and thrived off of the adulation from the fans, but he was distrustful of strangers, and preferred to stay in his hotel room or at home alone rather than seek celebrity off of the field. He remained in some sense a child and he made a lifetime of giving back to children, especially those hospitalized. We learn of his undisciplined approach to financial matters, his marriage to two wives, and his near bankruptcy state at some times in his life because of reckless spending/ and giving away clothes and cash to others. He would be financially dependent to others for guidance for most of his life-perhaps because his only pure love was for baseball and his second wife Mae. There is so much more, but this is a review and not a summary. Hirsch has done a wonderful job allowing us to see what was inside the myth. He closes with this quote which is essential for understanding the greatness of Mays the player. ..."the numbers for all their elegance, capture only part of the game, and they disservice Mays by failing to reflect his strategic, intangible contributions (inducing bad throws, quick first steps in the outfield, positioning, knowledge of hitters, and so on). The "five tool" designation understates his skills by ignoring his intelligence, preparation, and guile> Mays was always better than the box score." I saw his career, and he was one of a kind. The legend is worthy of all of the accolades given to him. One can only imagine what his numbers would have been but for losing two years to the Army, and the unfavorable ball parks that he played in during his career.
Mack Allen
5.0 out of 5 stars "Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend" -- Magnificent achievement!
Reviewed in the United States on February 9, 2011
"Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend" by James S. Hirsch is one of the best, most in-depth and enjoyable sports biographies I've ever read. (Other successful similar books, though imminently readable, were either not as well-researched and not as substantive, or not as objective.) This book is without question the definitive biography about Willie Mays.

The prodigious amount of little known information Mr. Hirsch was able to unearth and bring to light through meticulous research was not only in many instances surprising but really rather astounding. The veil is finally lifted about Willie's childhood and his unusual extended family situation while growing up in depression era Alabama. The book in fact is filled with priceless anecdotes and details from every period of Willie's life, including his life after baseball.

The author smoothly and seamlessly takes the reader through decades, generations and eras without missing a beat, displaying a "fly-on-the-wall" quality that makes the narrative even more interesting and enjoyable. I found it extraordinary that Mr. Hirsch, who was too young to have seen Mays play, seemed to have really understood the nuances of his research, as exhibited by the ease with which he so credibly and knowingly wrote about baseball and all the events and personalities he mentions in their historical context.

The fact that the author throughout the book did not shy from discussing Willie's eccentricities, perceived and otherwise, or his public and private failures-- in addition to his triumphs--as a person and as a player, makes the book in many ways a valuable resource.

Willie Mays was and is a complex and sensitive man and an extremely prideful person. But he did allow himself, before it was all done, to become the proverbial poster child for the great athlete who doesn't know when to quit. Unlike Joe DiMaggio, who gracefully retired when it was time, Willie was simply unable to fathom a life without baseball and moreover was overwhelmed by his own insecurity and fear of the unknown. The shame of it is that younger fans who saw him long after his once formidable skills had deserted him thought they were seeing Willie Mays when in fact what they were really witnessing was merely an apparition--the ghost of Willie Mays.

While reading "Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend" I rather curiously anticipated seeing just how the author James S. Hirsch would handle Mays' decline and ultimate abasement as a baseball player. In other words I wondered if he would ruin his credibility by not dealing forthrightly and honestly with this somewhat lugubrious part of Mays' long career. I need not have concerned myself. Here again, to my amazement, Mr. Hirsch made it look rather easy (and there's no way it could have been.) With compassionate objectivity he expertly painted a picture that was both honest and balanced, as exemplified by the often brilliantly descriptive way in which he documented Mays' sadly memorable struggles during the 1973 World Series, his final year in baseball.

Most knowledgeable baseball people who saw him play in his prime consider Willie Mays the greatest baseball player who ever lived. But throughout Mays' brilliant career one got the impression that he was a somewhat troubled man. "Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend" reveals a plethora of illuminating information hitherto unknown to the general public about this fiercely private, complex and enigmatic man. It is a cruelly ironic misconception that the talented prodigy in any field of endeavor has the easy road when in fact the exact opposite is often the case because of the burdensome level of overwhelming expectations.

"Willie Mays, The Life, The Legend" is a must-read if you are a fan of baseball or of Willie Mays, although the totality of this thoroughly engrossing life story has a universal appeal that transcends the game of baseball. The author of this magnificent book, James S. Hirsch, should be commended for what is in my opinion a masterful job of research and story-telling!

----Major A. Smith
J. Rodeck
4.0 out of 5 stars I love all the baseball history, the players, the stadiums.
Reviewed in the United States on May 9, 2024
There's an A+ book here, but 660 pages for a ball player!?

I love all the baseball history, the players, the stadiums . . . . Candlestick Park was a disaster!

I would have stayed away from all the criticism of Willie's non-involvement with the civil rights movement. Why can't he just be the greatest athlete in the world who had a positive high regard for all his fellow players.

The Leo Durocher/Willie Mays relationship is the heart of the story; the father/protector vis a vis an atomic bundle of baseball potential.
Kindle Customer
5.0 out of 5 stars Great Biography!
Reviewed in the United States on August 8, 2024
This is a great biography of one the greatest MLB players of all time. It encompasses his entire life up until 2009. The author goes into detail about his young life and how his parents influenced him. Also his play in the Negro Leagues has much interesting facts. Then his ascent into the big leagues and how became one of the greatest of all time. Also his under appreciated contribution to equal rights is examined throughout the book. Mays was not outspoken at all but contributed in more quiet ways. People like Jackie Robinson never understood this but someone who is a quiet person like me can appreciate it. I only saw Mays at the tail end of his career so I never saw him at his best. But as you read this book his greatness on and off the playing field comes through very brightly! This is one of the best baseball biographies I have ever read and would highly recommend it to anyone that loves baseball history.

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