KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Bob Kendrick, Negro Leagues Baseball Museum president, was in a ballpark clubhouse Tuesday when he found out about the death of baseball legend Willie Mays.
It was the same ballpark — Rickwood Field — where Mays, then 17 years old, began his professional career in the Negro Leagues as a member of the Birmingham Black Barons.
Kendrick and a group of former Negro Leagues players were in the clubhouse to meet players from the minor league teams who were to play a game on the field.
Michael Mays, Willie's son, is a filmmaker and was in the clubhouse with a photographer getting the interaction between Kendrick and the former players.
Not long after Mays and his photographer left the clubhouse, Kendrick got a text with the tragic news.
"Of course, when I got the news, it was like a punch in the gut," Kendrick said. "Even though he was 93 years old, there are just certain people that are just not supposed to die. I felt the same way when Buck O'Neil passed away.
"We know that no one is going to live forever. But if someone was going to live forever, it was going to be Buck and it was going to be Henry Aaron and it was going to be Willie Mays, even though we know that's never the case."
Mays could do anything on the field — hit for average, hit for power, throw out a runner from the deepest part of a ballpark and run down anything hit his way in center field.
"But when you say the name 'Willie Mays,' particularly for those who got to see him play, the name alone brings a smile," Kendrick said from his hotel room in Birmingham, Alabama. "And so while the occasion is somber, we must celebrate this amazing man, this amazing athlete. And we've got the grandest stage of them all.
"The world will be watching on Thursday. What a tremendous memorial service we will be able to give Mr. Mays as a send-out and to have those other former Negro Leagues vets in attendance, some of whom played for the Birmingham Black Barons. This will resonate tremendously."
Mays started his major league career in 1951 with the New York Giants and ended his career at age 42 in 1973 with the New York Mets. He finished with 660 home runs and is widely considered one of the top 10 players in major league history.
Kendrick pointed out Mays began his career in the Negro Leagues as a teenager competing with players who were older and more seasoned.
"He would be the first to tell you that experience prepared him for everything he was going to see at the major league level," Kendrick said.
Mays also had great appreciation for those Negro Leagues players who never got the chance to play in the racially segregated major leagues.
As for the best player Mays ever saw play or faced during his time in the Negro Leagues?
"Satchel Paige," Kendrick said without hesitation.
Mays was just 17 when he faced Paige, possibly the greatest pitcher in any league.
He hit a double his first time up, and Paige told the third baseman to let him know the next time Mays came to the plate.
"He said, 'Hey Satch, there he is,'" Kendrick said Mays told him. "He said Satchel said, 'Son, I ain't going to try and trick you. I'm going to throw you three fastballs.' ... He said, 'Satchel threw three straight right by me. I never saw them.'
"And he says on the third strike, Satchel is now halfway between the mound and home plate, and Willie says as he turned to go back to the dugout, Satchel looks at him and says, 'Now son, go sit down, little boy.'"
Stories, exhibits and more about the Negro Leagues can be found at the Negro Leagues Baseball Museum in the historic 18th and Vine District in Kansas City, Missouri.
For more information on the museum, click here.
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