Willie Mays Sr., a retired steelworker and railroad porter from the Deep South who raised one of the greatest baseball players of all time, died Friday at Sequoia Hospital in Redwood City after a short illness. He was 89.
Mr. Mays was a versatile athlete who inculcated a zest for baseball in his son, Willie, the Hall of Fame center fielder, before the child could walk. The two habitually rolled a ball back and forth, young Mays crying in protest whenever his father stopped.
Sports was the Mays family passion. Mr. Mays's father played baseball on all-black teams in the South during segregation. Mr. Mays -- who went by the nickname ``Cat'' -- did the same. Mr. Mays's former wife, Ann, was a championship sprinter.
Born in the industrial town of Westfield, Ala., Mr. Mays worked on Detroit-bound passenger trains as a porter and later in a Westfield steel mill. At one point, he and his son, then just in high school, played together on the mill's semiprofessional baseball team.
"My father . . . made a very good living there," Mays said in an interview. "I really didn't have a hard time eating like other people around me did."
Until blinded by glaucoma, Mr. Mays attended many of his son's games with the Giants, first at New York's Polo Grounds and later at Candlestick Park. He recently lived in Redwood City.
In addition to his son, Mr. Mays is survived by a grandson, Michael.
A memorial service will be conducted at 11 a.m. today at the Roller, Hapgood & Tinney chapel, 980 Middlefield Road, Palo Alto. Contributions in Mr. Mays' memory may be made to the Say Hey Foundation, 51 Mount Vernon Lane, Atherton, CA 94027.