Fans offer their memories of Willie Mays in this Candlestick Park retrospective
Will Knox, 47, heads up a business development company and lives in Los Angeles, though he is a fifth generation San Franciscan. He hasn't been to a Giants game in about 20 years but will attend the final game at Candlestick on Thursday with his brother, who still can't believe this story.
"Willie Mays was my hero when I was 10. That was when he moved into my Pacific Heights neighborhood.
One morning a friend and I waited on his stoop for him to come out. Under the guise of asking for an autograph, I slipped in that I had tickets to the ballgame that day and would he mind taking me out there?
I guess you could say I had him cornered, as off we sped in Willie's lime-green '61 convertible Caddy. As we hit our first red light I remembered my mom had made my lunch which waswaiting for me back at our house, a few blocks away.
"Oh my god! Willie, my mom will wonder what's happened to me if I don't come home and get my lunch," I said.
Cornered again. To this day I can remember my mother not knowing what blew in the house as I exclaimed, "Mom, Mom! Willie Mays is taking me to the ballgame! He's outside, waiting for me. Gotta go!" And there she stood, looking chagrined as I cruised away in that lime green Caddy with those Jetson-like fins.
The kind of guy Willie was became really clear as we sped through the vacant parking lot at 10:30 and he pulled into the exclusive player's space. He told us to meet him there after the game and he'd take us home.
What a day! It was so great, we met up a few weeks later. Cornered again!"
Alan Horn, 50, is a San Francisco native who lives in Sebastopol and owns an insurance agency. He has been going to two or three games a year at Candlestick but is looking forward to riding the ferry to many games at Pacific Bell Park.
"I was born in 1948, so I was 11 when Candlestick Park opened in April 1960. I went to maybe 25 Giants games per year in the early 1960's. I knew even then that I was watching a bunch of future Hall of Famers, not just Giants, but players from almost every other team.
It was a very magical time for me. Perhaps my most memorable day or night was August 20, 1963, which was the day I caught a foul ball off the prodigious bat of Willie Mays. It was the eighth inning and I was sitting in an aisle seat, just under the second deck overhang (section 1, row16, seat 1).
It was a cold, late afternoon and windy too. I always had my mitt with me and as Mays stepped up to the batter's box, I put down my scorecard and pencil and secured my glove on my left hand. I believe the count was 1-and-2 and Willie had fouled off several pitches. Then, another foul ball came straight at me like a frozen rope. I saw it knuckle slightly to my right and I jumped into thevacant aisle and made a back handed spear and caught it!
The people around me applauded and someone yelled out, "Great catch, kid!" I was in a state of pleasant shock the rest of the afternoon as my heart pounded and I pondered my split-second reaction. I still have the ball on a little pedestal in my bookcase with a 1-inch gash in the hide, where Willie Mays hit it! I would love to meet him and get him to autograph it."
Dan Pagan, 46, is a delivery truck driver and resident of Hayward. The East Bay native has been going to four or five Giants games at Candlestick in recent seasons.
"My favorite memory at Candlestick? Three words: WILLIE HOWARD MAYS ... 'nuff said."
Kevin McCarthy, 45, grew up in San Francisco attending as many Giants games as he could every summer. A UPS driver who lives in San Carlos, he gets out to about 10 Giants games a year.
"My hero was and still is Willie Mays, the greatest ballplayer who ever lived! From the '60s to the early '70s, I would go to Candlestick hoping to catch a ball off his bat.
Finally on a gray Friday night in June 1972, Willie came back to Candlestick as a New York Met. I was with a bunch of Riordan High students out in left field, having a great time. Around the third or fourth inning, Willie came to bat, with Cleon Jones on first, Bud Harrelson on second and Jim Barr pitching for the Giants. Barr came in with a piece of cake and Willie took him deep for a three-run shot!
The ball cleared the left-field fence and hit the cement. I stood up and caught it with my left hand! I went crazy. A boyhood dream had come true!
The homer was Willie's 650th; he would go on to hit 660. The significance of the homer was that is was his last at Candlestick. The next day I went to Candlestick and had the ball autographed by Willie through a batboy friend of mine.
If Willie ever wanted the ball, he could have it, no questions asked. It would be a payment for all the thrills he gave me."
Karen Katenbrink Poret, 48, was an usherette at Candlestick in the mid-1960s. The third-generation San Franciscan is a self-employed businesswoman living in La Selva Beach.
"When I was a teenager, I was determined to work for the Giants because my parents were season ticket holders and I wanted to work at "Windystick." I became an usherette and was so pleased to be issued an usherette's black peacoat and orange muffler and to be able to show the fans to their seats.
My real 15 minutes of fame came when I was waiting for my father to pick me up after work. I was sitting at the bus stop in front of the ballpark, when the one and only Willie Mays drove up and offered me a ride. Since I was wearing my stadium peacoat, he realized I was an employee.
I honestly don't recall the conversation in the car, but when we got home, I swear all the boys on myblock came out of their houses running to meet the "Say Hey Kid." My mother was so excited and only had her wallet in her possession when she came out of the house. She took out my fourth grade school picture and he autographed it. Today that photo along with my official Willie Mays plastic statue is proudly on display with the china in my inherited china cabinet."