"You know if that’s the only home run he ever hits, they’ll still talk about it." Russ Hodges. "For the first 60 feet it was a hell of a pitch." Warren Spahn. "The ball came down in Utica. I know. I was managing there at the time." Lefty Gomez. "I never saw a f*ing ball get out of a f*ing ball park so f*ing fast, in my f*ing life." Leo Durocher. Willie Mays first at bat, at home, was his first home run. Polo Grounds, 1951. In 1951, having gone 0 for 12 since being called up from the Minneapolis Millers of American Association, Willie Mays of the New York Giants got his first major league hit, a home run off the Boston Braves’ Warren Spahn at the Polo Grounds. "Willie Mays hit his first major league hit was a home run off me and I'll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie Mays forever if I'd only struck him out." Warren Spahn. Twice Willie Mays hit over 50 homers in a season. Four times he led the league in homers. Four consecutive times he led the league in steals. In 12 consecutive years he scored more than 100 runs. In eight consecutive years, he drove in more than 100 runs. In seven consecutive years, Willie Mays did BOTH!!!!!

.@jimfrombaseball Yankee Stadium courtesy of a kind neighbor Eddie Kirby

Willie was 17, Satchel was 42. When Willie was 20, he hit his first HR off of Warren Spahn, at a time when Spahn allowed just 13 more HRs the entire season. Willie was hitting almost .500 ! (.477) in triple A ball before the NY Giants called him up.

"I asked Hank Aaron what he wanted to do and he told me he wanted to be our farm director because that was a job with some teeth. I didn’t worry about whether he could do the job. I didn’t know very much about baseball when I came in. If I could go from non-baseball person to owner, Hank Aaron could go from baseball player to the front office." Ted Turner.

"At the turn of the century, major league veterans often refused even to speak to new players. Once, early in his career, a shy young outfielder dared compliment a New York Giant for hitting a home run. 'Nice hit,' he said. The veteran answered" 'Go to hell.' The young player was Johannes Peter Wagner — Honus Wagner, on his way to becoming the greatest player in the National League." In 1900 Honus Wagner debuts with the Pittsburgh Pirates and remains a Pirate for 18 years, hits over .300 15 seasons IN A ROW, steals 722 bases, and sets league records for at-bats and number of games played that stand for four decades. "He had a powerful build. His five foot eleven inch two hundred pound frame, it was said, featured a massive chest that might have come from a barrel-maker's shop, and shoulders broad enough to serve dinner on. His legs were badly bowed, but he had huge hands and arms so long opposing players swore he could tie his shoes without bending over. Nothing seemed to get past him, and he threw so hard to first base that pebbles, scooped up as he fielded grounders, were said to arrive along with the ball. If a man with a voice loud enough to make himself heard all over the United States should stand on top of Pike's Peak and ask: "Who is the greatest ball player?" Untold millions of Americans would shout: "Wagner!" Hugh Fullerton, 'American Magazine'. "Honus Wagner" Art by Paul Smuty.

"Particularly for Black folks. Yeah, for Black folks, Jackie Robinson was our Neil Armstrong. His breaking of the colour barrier carried the same level of euphoria that we saw collectively as a nation when Neil Armstrong walked on the moon. That's the kind of impact that he had. And sometimes, lost in the tremendous social adversity that Jackie would have to shoulder, is that he was also carrying the hopes and aspirations of 21 million black folks who were counting on him to succeed. He cannot fail. And as you know, baseball at its crux is a game of failure. But he cannot fail, because if the first guy fails, there is no second guy: Who knows how much longer it may have been before another Black player would have gotten an opportunity to play in the major leagues? It could have been another 10, 15, 20 years or more. If it's 20 years later, think about all the legendary major league stars we would have missed. We'd have missed Willie Mays. We'd have missed Henry Aaron, Ernie Banks, Roy Campanella. We'd have missed Roberto Clemente, Bob Gibson. Can you imagine our sport without those great stars?" Bob Kendrick President. Negro Leagues Baseball Museum. "Jackie Robinson" Kansas City Monarchs. "We Are the Ship" Art by Kadir Nelson.

A great baseball player but a nasty person.

Was a privilege knowing him.

"Before the game, Vin Scully waxed poetic about Wrigley Field: 'She stands alone at the corner of Clark and Addison, this dowager queen, dressed in basic black and pearls, seventy-five years old, proud head held high and not a hair out of place, awaiting yet another date with destiny, another time for Mr. Right. She dreams as old ladies will of men gone long ago. Joe Tinker. Johnny Evers. Frank Chance. And of those of recent vintage like her man Ernie. And the Lion, Leo Durocher. And Sweet Billy Williams. And she thinks wistfully of what might have been, and the pain is still fresh and new, and her eyes fill, her lips tremble, and she shakes her head ever so slightly. And then she sighs, pulls her shawl tightly around her frail shoulders, and thinks: 'This time, this time it will be better.'" "A Nice Little Place on the North Side." George F Will.

"Satchel Paige had a very, very good fastball...... But the first time I faced Satchel, he threw me a little breaking ball, just to see what I could do, and I hit it off the top of the fence. I got a double. When I got to second, Satchel told the third baseman: 'Let me know when that little boy comes back up.' Three innings later, I go to kneel down in the on-deck circle, and I hear the third baseman say: 'There he is.' Satch looked at the third baseman, and then he looked at me. I walk halfway to home plate and he says: 'Little boy.' I say, 'Yes, sir?' because Satch was much older than I am, so I was trying to show respect. He walked halfway to home plate and said: 'Little boy, I'm not going to trick you. I'm going to throw you three fastballs and you're going to go sit down' and I'm saying in my mind: 'I DOOON'T THINK SOOOOOO. If he threw me three of the same pitch, I'm going to hit it somewhere. I turned to the catcher and asked: “What does he mean?” Catcher told me: “He’s going to throw you three fast balls. Nothing else.” He threw me two fastballs and I just swung..... I swung right through it..... And the third ball he threw, and I tell people this all the time, he threw the ball and as he let go he said: 'Go sit down.' This is while the ball was in the air. Yes, he struck me out with three pitches. He was just magnificent." 17 year old Willie Mays facing Satchel Paige for the first time.

I love hearing those old baseball stories from the great’s of the game that I so loved growing up. ⚾️

"I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform. I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington, even though I was "All-City" in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State. Hit a home run? Put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is more, a lot more important than the name on the back. If this validates anything, it's that learning how to bunt, hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light at the dug out camera. I've been proud to be a lifelong Chicago Cub and still be with the Cubs. That's always been important to me and I think it's always been special. Leadership is a combination of strategy and character. If you must be without one, be without the strategy." Ryne Sandberg. "Ryan got beat up on basketball floor a lot. They knew he was the best player." When High School Coach Clark moved over to Gonzaga Prep, Ryne Sandberg`s one teammate was a less than physically imposing sophomore point guard. John Stockton. Sandberg once ran 6.3 in 60-yard dash!

As requested.... Story by Whitey Ford..... "The White Sox came into Yankee Stadium and I was pitching against them. I took my eight warm up pitches and they played the National Anthem. Up comes Louie Aparicio. First pitch I throw to him he bunts down third, beats it out. One pitch, man on first. Nellie Fox gets up. First pitch, double down the left field line. Two pitches, second and third. Minnie Minoso, I threw him a really good curveball, but it hit him in the kneecap. So he walks down to first. Now I’ve thrown three pitches. Bases are loaded and up comes Ted Kluszewski. First pitch high fastball, off the right-centerfield wall. Three runs score. I’ve thrown four pitches. Manager Casey Stengel comes out to the mound. Yogi Berra doesn’t want to miss that, so he hustles out there. And Casey says to Yogi: ‘Does Ford have anything tonight?’. And Yogi says: ‘How the hell do I know? I haven’t caught a pitch yet.'"

"I heard the crack of the bat and saw it headed toward the right-field bleachers where we were sitting. I jumped up on my seat and stretched as high as I could, and the ball slammed into the palm of my bare hand. Red Barber, handling the broadcast that day, described it as: "A great catch." Immediately after 'The Catch' of Roger Maris`s 61st home run, Sal Durante was surrounded by Yankee ushers. Roger would want the baseball that broke Ruth’s record. “Fine,” said Sal Durante. “But I want to give it to him personally.” Durante was ushered to where Maris, his family and several Yankee officials had gathered. “Somebody said: ‘Hey, Rog, the kid wants to give you the ball personally.’ So I walked up to him and said: ‘Here’s the ball, Roger.’ After Maris thanked him, Durante thought that would be the end of it. But, after signing the ball and dating it, Maris handed it back to Durante and said: "Keep it, kid. Put it up for auction. Somebody will pay you a lot of money for the ball. He’ll keep it for a couple of days and then give it to me." Durante – who expected nothing more than a “thank-you” from Maris, wound up selling the ball to Sam Gordon, a California restaurateur, for $5,000, which was a lot of money in those days. Gordon then turned the ball over to Roger Maris. Sal Durante married his girlfriend Rosemarie and they had three children. Sam Gordon, the man who bought the home-run ball for $5,000, graciously paid for their honeymoon.