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Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend (2010)

by James S. Hirsch(Favorite Author)

4.02 of 5 Votes: 3

ISBN

1416547908 (ISBN13: 9781416547907)

languge

English

genre

History & Biography

publisher

Scribner Book Company

review 1: Willie Mays was a legendary baseball player who played for the New York and San Francisco Giants. He entered baseball at a time where segregation was still prevalent but he managed to become an influential figure in the Civil Rights Movement by playing good ball. But Willie had to find a way to handle his popularity as well as deal with his race and his career. It is evident that the author, James S. Hirsch, has put a lot of time into researching the details of Willie's life because he explains every significant event with many details. He went out of his way to interview many of the people in Willie's life such as his family, friends and teammates. As a baseball fan, it makes for a more exciting read because he provides another insight into his life that most people don't... more know. Hirsch told the story of Mays' life from a variety of perspectives but most clearly from Willie's, which interesting because during the height of his career, the fans and media were more concerned about what Mays could do on and off the field rather than how it was affecting him. He explains Willie's motives behind his actions, something many people didn't understand. He divides the book into chapters that tell Mays' life story in chronological order but he emphasizes the significant aspects of each event. This gives a complete look at the life of Willie Mays because he starts from his childhood and ends with his life after retirement. I loved this book! As a Giants fan, it was to learn more about Willie Mays from a book and not just what I've been told by other Giants fans. Any baseball fan would enjoy this book.
review 2: Eric Mikulan Ms. Brooks and Ms. SimsEnglish Book Review7 January 2013 For my non-fiction book I read the book Willie Mays: The Life, The Legend by James S. Hirsch. This book tells of the story of Willie Mays life from growing up in Alabama to becoming a Major League Baseball player. The book tells of May's struggles as he got drafted out of high school as he grew up in a time of great racism. His struggles continued as he began to play in minor league baseball in Minneapolis. Due to the great racism of the time of when he played in the Negro Leagues of the south which is were all the African American baseball players played until Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier of Major league baseball. The book goes on to tell of May's career in the MLB with New York and San Francisco, and gives praise to one of the greatest baseball players of all time. This book on Willie Mays is a non-fiction biography, I know this because the author tells the story of Willie Mays and his life and Career in baseball. Some information that I found interesting in this book is that Willies Mays ranks fourth on the all time home run leaderboard with 660 home runs. Willie Mays was the highest paid player of the late 1950s making $100,000 which seems like a miniscule amount of money compared to todays athletes. Willies Mays played 22 seasons in the MLB which is a very long time to be in major league baseball where the average player only plays for around 5 years. Willie Mays set a Major league record for durability by playing more than 150 games in thirteen or more seasons. Overall I would recommend this book to anyone who is looking to further there knowledge of one of the greatest baseball players of all time. I give the book four stars out of five since it provides lots of information about Willie Mays and Major League Baseball. However I did not give this book a fifth star because of the fact that it can become fairly boring at times. The book should be read if you like baseball and if you like the history of some of the greatest players. less

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