You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! by Jonah Winter (review)

If Winter’s last baseball title found him stunned that kids might not know Sandy Koufax (You Never Heard of Sandy Koufax?!, BCCB 2/09), now he’s downright aghast that they could be ignorant of Willie “Say Hey” Mays. He sets this to rights in a rollicking biography that establishes the New York Giants legend as one of baseball’s greatest all-around players, while gently reminding fans of the often unsung ways in which he advanced respect for black players, who had just broken into the major leagues. Winter throws himself heart and soul into the persona of a diehard Giants fan, and his narration runs at the pace and style of an old-timer who just can’t say enough about Mays’ glory days when the player was “flyin’ round the bases so fast that his hat would fly off, chargin’ line drives hit to shallow center field like his life depended on it, usin’ his classic ‘basket catch,’ his glove held out like he was askin’ for a cookie.” Widener’s paintings sing perfect counterpoint to the text, whether Mays is a the young boy posing just like his hero, Joe DiMaggio, or a seasoned player on his knees tracking the path of the ball he’s just released, or the pro playing stickball with his young fans in Harlem. Ticket-stub insets offer sidebar information as Mays’ story advances, and a glossary of baseball terms teams up with notes on stats and broadcaster quotes in the end matter. Even adults who are indifferent to baseball will likely be so drawn into Mays’ story and Winter’s rousing text that they’ll want to gather up a crowd just to read this one aloud.