24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid

In this enjoyable memoir, told in the third person, Shea (Off Base) and Mays narrate the life of one of MLB’s greatest baseball players. Drawing on hundreds of interviews from the likes of fellow legends Hank Aaron, Rickey Henderson, Reggie Jackson, and Willie McCovey, and three presidents (Clinton, Bush, Obama), Shea chronicles Mays’s life and legacy with attention, detail, and awe. The narrative follows Mays’s early playing days in Tennessee through his professional career with the New York/San Francisco Giants and New York Mets and into retirement. When describing his famous catch in the 1954 World Series, Mays humbly recalls, “It was simple to me. You go back, you catch the ball, you spin, you turn, you throw it back to the infield.” He reflects on other parts of his life, as well, including his Army service during the Korean War (“You’ve got to serve your country, and that’s what I did”), and discusses the significance of black athletes, from Jackie Robinson through to when Mays himself received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Barack Obama (“It wasn’t about riding Air Force One, it was the thought of someone from my race inviting me aboard”). This definitive work about a living legend is a must-buy for baseball fans. (May)