Goodman: In 2024, Willie Mays left us with a powerful message

This is an opinion column.

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There were some big moments in sports this past year, but none were more meaningful than Major League Baseball’s tribute to the Negro Leagues at Birmingham’s Rickwood Field.

And that was before the death of Willie Mays two days before the game.

Mays died on Tuesday, June 18, 2024. With fearless joy, Mays changed America.

Mays’ team, the San Francisco Giants, played the St. Louis Cardinals, on Thursday, June 20, at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama. Bearing witness to it all still feels like an out-of-body experience.

There I was at Rickwood Field, an hour away from the start of Alabama’s first official Major League Baseball game, and the son of Willie Mays was telling me that his father chose to die in an effort to bring more attention to the event.

“There isn’t a doubt in my mind,” Michael Mays said. “He went out like a king.”

I’ll never forget that interview, and baseball will always have the day the nation stopped to pay tribute to the greatest baseball player of all time in the stadium where it all started for him.

It’s almost like it killed Mays not to be there, and then, suddenly, he was there in spirit with everyone who has ever loved baseball and the dream of how a simple game can transform the human experience into something more powerful than life itself.

Mays’ death was announced at Rickwood Field during the minor league baseball game between the Birmingham Barons and the Montgomery Biscuits. The Barons wore the uniforms of the Birmingham Black Barons and the Biscuits were dressed like the old Montgomery Gray Sox. Two days later, on Juneteenth 2024, one Baseball Hall of Famer after another poured into Rickwood Field to pay tribute to Mays and the Negro Leagues.

For this humble sportswriter from Birmingham, MLB: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues will always be one of the greatest moments in sports I will ever have the honor of covering.

In 2024, we learned that Birmingham can still do big things when the city comes together in the name of unity and love. Thanks to the efforts of Birmingham and the Friends of Rickwood, Major League Baseball is planning a return to Rickwood Field in 2026. I can hardly wait.

MLB at Rickwood Field is transforming Birmingham into a destination city for baseball fans. How cool is that?

But the game this past season wasn’t just about Willie Mays. The Cardinals were chosen to play the Giants because of another historical figure from Birmingham who is still alive and, amazingly, still preaching the Good Word at Bethel Baptist Church in Berney Points.

I’m talking about Rev. Bill Greason, of course, who is Birmingham royalty.

Rev. Greason is an American icon and trailblazer. He was the first Black pitcher for the St. Louis Cardinals. Before his baseball career, Rev. Greason fought at Iwo Jima as one of the first Black Marines in United States history.

Rev. Greason’s two best friends were killed during the Battle of Iwo Jima, along with nearly 7,000 other Americans. It was that experience that later led Rev. Greason to serve the Lord.

Rev. Greason turned 100 years old in 2024. He celebrated the century mark on Tuesday, Sept.3, with a party at Rickwood Field organized by the non-profit Heart and Armor, which serves to enrich the lives of U.S. veterans.

It was a celebration fit for a king.

Active duty Marines in their dress uniforms flanked the first- and third-base lines. Tributes to each stage of Rev. Greason’s remarkable life were set up at the bases in the infield. The entire Miles College baseball team attended the event along with a few hundred other friends and family members.

“God is a good God,” Rev. Greason said. “You wouldn’t be here if He wasn’t.”

Back in June, Rev. Greason threw out the ceremonial first pitch of the baseball game between the Giants and the Cardinals. The Giants wore the uniforms of the San Francisco Sea Lions of the Negro Leagues. The Cardinals honored the old St. Louis Stars.

Rev. Greason mentored Willie Mays in 1948 when both players led the Birmingham Black Barons to the final Negro League World Series. Rev. Greason never stopped mentoring and Mays considered Rev. Greason a friend for his entire life.

All these years later, the legacy of the Birmingham Black Barons continues to impact the lives of people across the country.

That’s the power of sports.

That’s why we gather together for these games. We honor the past together and look forward to a more hopeful future.

Here’s to 2024, the year Willie Mays and Rev. Bill Greason reminded us that we can always and forever continue to do great things. Happy New Year.

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Joseph Goodman is the lead sports columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of the book “We Want Bama: A Season of Hope and the Making of Nick Saban’s Ultimate Team.”