The great baseball legend Willie Mays died last Tuesday, June 18, at the age of 93 years old.
The late Theodore “Bike” Williams of Locust Hill never forgot the day Willie Mays came to play at the Cooks Corner (Saluda, Va) home ballfield of the Middlesex Cubs in the local Negro League, also known as the “Olympic Playground.”
Mays was stationed at Ft. Eustis and was playing for the Ft. Eustis Wheels. Williams was the pitcher for the Cubs. The Sentinel interviewed Williams for a story on the Middlesex Negro Baseball League and he said then, “They beat us 6-5. I remember that,” said Williams. “I also remember striking out Mays in one of his at bats. I didn’t realize what a feat that was until I started hearing about Mays later on making it to the major leagues.”
During the Korean War from 1950 to 1953, Syd Thrift, who grew up in Locust Hill, became the manager/player of the Ft. Eustis Wheels in Newport News. The war increased the need for recruitment of American boys to serve in the service. Major league players were being drafted and sent to military stations around the country.
Vernon “Deacon” Law, a talented 21-year-old pitcher for the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Joe Lonett, a catcher with the Philadelphia Phillies organization, who later became an outstanding major league player, were on the team.
There was another major league player on the Wheels by the name of William Howard “Willie” Mays Jr., the only Black on the team. Segregation resulted in Willie Mays striking out to Theodore Williams at Cooks Corner.
Willie Mays went on to play for the San Francisco Giants, make the baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, N.Y., and was one of the greatest baseball players in American history.
