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Say Hey by Willie Mays and Lou Sahadi, reviewed by Andrew H.

The collaboration of Willie Mays and Lou Sahadi on Willie Mays’ autobiography Say Hey is a home run! Sahadi is no stranger to sports autobiographies as he has worked with many other well-known sports figures such as Len Dawson, Don Shula, and Hank Stram. This book gives readers an outlook of Mays’ life before, during, and after his historic baseball career. It also shows the good times and hard times Mays had to go through to succeed as a professional baseball player and as a man.

This story of a determined black athlete shows the good times and hardships of Willie Mays’ journey to becoming a professional baseball player. In the book Mays speaks about his passion for baseball and how he wanted to play it for the rest of his life. His childhood dream came true at the age of fourteen when manager Piper Davis found Mays and offered him a contract to play for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro Leagues. During his term with the team he faced stars like Satchel Paige and "Cool Papa" Bell. When he was twenty he joined the New York Giants, then managed by Leo Durocher, whom he loved greatly and credits for “making” his career by believing in him after his poor debut in the majors. He writes about his years in New York and San Francisco where the fans originally were unkind to him since he was a young black kid coming right into the pros out of high school. During his career he appeared in twenty-four All-Star games and was chosen most valuable player twice. He was also inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. This well-written autobiography shows how Mays was a fine man with a huge heart as well as someone who played baseball for the love of the game, not for the money!

This autobiography offers readers a surplus of knowledge about Willie Mays and the game of baseball. It also gives readers a look on what professional baseball players think about during a game. Also this book shows people how to work hard and make their dreams come true. It shows how determination and a strong work ethic can help you accomplish your goals. This book is easy to read and it has a nice flow to it. There are no hard vocabulary words and everything is easy to understand. Also there are some photos that allow the reader to see some of the important events that occurred in Mays’ life.

Some readers may not enjoy this book because it may seem boring reading a 277 page book on one person’s life. They may find the book repetitive since the book goes into each season of Willie Mays’ career. Also there is no real suspense or action in this book it is just an autobiography on the life of Willie Mays. Another reason why readers may not enjoy this book is because it is slow-paced. Each year of Mays’ career is described in depth, and each baseball event or historic moment in his career is discussed in depth.

Overall, this book deserves four stars. Say Hey is an excellent autobiography on one of the best baseball players of all time. It allows the reader to learn more about the game of baseball and about the historic career of Willie Mays. It also allows readers to see the kind of person Willie Mays was. Not only did he hit homeruns on the field, but also he hit them off the field by playing with youngsters, signing souvenirs, and setting good examples by playing for the love of the game, not for the money.