Dinner with the Say Hey Kid

Willie Mays makes Giants’ players feel at home during spring training:

When Willie Mays sits down at his customary card table in the Giants’ spring clubhouse, he immediately lets out a high-pitched yell and demands to know [Fred] Lewis’ whereabouts. The “Say Hey Kid” has found himself a surrogate godson. They go back and forth on every subject from hitting left-handers to money management to butchering hogs. And Saturday, Lewis received the dinner invitation of his life . . .

. . . Mays invited Lewis, Emmanuel Burriss and Travis Ishikawa for a feast: chicken, steak, red beans and rice, greens and cornbread.

“And pies, oh man, the pies,” Lewis said. “Every kind you can think of. Ice cream too. I said, ‘Willie, I’m about to go to sleep up on your couch.’ “

I can’t think of many things I’d rather do than go have dinner at Willie Mays’ house. In other news Fred Lewis is delusional:

Not only did the foot injury prematurely end Lewis’ first full season, but it also robbed him of a milestone: He finished with 11 triples, one short of the San Francisco-era record shared by Mays and Steve Finley. Lewis plans to break that record and keep on running. He wants to match Mays’ career high of 20 triples, set in 1957, the club’s last season at New York’s Polo Grounds.

Who’s going to show Lewis a picture of the Polo Grounds’ outfield?


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bpasinko
15 years ago

Can you try to break a triples record without actually running into several outs at 3b?

I guess if the Giants are in last place, why not send him to 3rd every single time.

The Common Man
15 years ago

Spending time with Willie Mays might make me delusional too.  Man, ballplayers have all the fun.

http://www.the-common-man.com

TC
15 years ago

You talk about the Polo Grounds like the Giants are playing at Wrigley or something.  That’s a big, big field out there in San Francisco, and I understand that particular club also plays out there in San Diego where, I imagine for a line hitting speedster, triples are abundant.

themarksmith
15 years ago

Don’t try to reason with people who build their entire careers on ego.