SAY HEY, WILLIE MAYS!

(director: Nelson George; editor: Darrin Roberts; cast: Willie Brown, Bob Costas, Reggie Jackson, Barry Bonds, Willie Mays, Vin Scully, Harry Edwards, Orlando Cepeda, Jeffrey Wright (voice of Jackie Robinson), Juan Marichal, Joe DiMaggio, Jon Miller; Runtime: 98; MPAA Rating: NR; producers: Colin Hanks, Sean M. Stewart, Glen Zipper; Zipper Bros Films/HBO Max; 2022)

“For sports nostalgia junkies, this is a Giant high.”

Reviewed by Dennis Schwartz

Nothing new uncovered in the pleasing and efficiently made sports documentary by Nelson George (“Finding The Funk”/” One Special Moment”), covering the 23 year MLB baseball career of the great Willie Mays, one of early Negro players to break the color barrier of MLB. Many players and experts consider him the greatest player of the modern era.

The conventional documentary interviews the gracious and likeable Alabama-born 91-year-old Willie Mays, who reflects on his legendary baseball career from playing in the Negro League with the Birmingham Black Barons in 1948 and in the majors joining in 1951 the NY Giants, in 1958 the Francisco Giants and in 1972 the NY Mets. It also includes archival footage, commentary from sports biographers, journalists, and fellow Hall of Famers.

It spends a lot of time showing the close relationship Willie had with his godson Bobby Bonds (which I found boring). The disingenuous slugger is presented as a clean-cut and articulate ballplayer, who worships Willie and acts petulant he’s not in the H of F. The film conveniently neglects telling us that Bonds was caught using steroids–which is a serious baseball violation and a reason the Hall never came calling despite his batting accomplishments.

The film’s best moments are archival footage of Willie playing stickball with the kids of Harlem and hanging out nights at Harlem’s Red Rooster when playing for the Giants in the Polo Grounds.

For sports nostalgia junkies, this is a Giant high.

REVIEWED ON 9/4/2024  GRADE: B
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