by Dr. Rajesh C. Oza
In honor of Willie Howard Mays, Jr., 1931–2024
Stand on the shoulders
of the Giants’ Willie Mays
and roar, “Say Hey, Kids!”
Still Life
by Paul Kocak
That cinnamon voice
Ricocheting in the clubhouse
Keeping things loose
On the bench
And in the bleachers
No matter the score
Mays’ cinnamon spirit
Sprinkled on summer’s
Long afternoons
Les Keiter on WINS
Me with the transistor
San Francisco an eternity away
You never left
I wouldn’t let you
The Giants fled
I stayed
Your cap flying off
Still
Paul Kocak is the author of Chasing Willie Mays: Chronicles of a Fan Left Behind.
Say Hey
by Jim Siergey
The Negro Leagues Got Us Here
by Dr. Rajesh C. Oza
“I can’t believe it,”
said Hall of Famer Willie Mays.
“I never thought I’d see
in my lifetime
a Major League Baseball game
being played on the very field
where I played baseball as a teenager.
It has been 75 years
since I played for the
Birmingham Black Barons
at Rickwood Field…
To learn that my Giants
and the Cardinals will play
a game there and honor
the legacy of the Negro Leagues…
is really emotional for me.
We can’t forget
what got us here
and that was
the Negro Leagues
for so many of us.”
Willie Mays quoted by Bob Nightengale about the MLB game at Birmingham’s historic Rickwood Field to be played on June 20, 2024 (USA Today, June 20, 2023)
Dr. Oza’s novel Double Play sits at the intersection of Ernie Banks’ Cubs, the Negro Leagues, riding the “L,” wrongful convictions, immigration and friendship. It will be published in October 2024 by Chicago’s Third World Press.
Throw the (Sports) Book at Him
by James Finn Garner
Now we’ve missed our chance to know
Of Tucupita Marcano
He wasn’t the next DiMaggio
But not everyone can be a hero
MLB said he’s got to go
For treating his phone like a casino
The bets he made — 400 or so —
Made his sportsbook dime him, bro!
Betting is here to stay, so
Get used to stories like Marcano’s
Owners love nothing but centavos
Ruined lives are the quid pro quo
