Willie’s Time
Reviewed by Leslie Heaphy, Department of History, Kent State University, Stark Campus.
JANUARY 28, 2005 archive
Charles Einstein uses all the resources available to him from his years as a journalist to produce this text that examines the baseball life of Willie Mays within the larger context of American history. He weaves the two stories together to support his title Willie’s Time. Unfortunately there are times when it is hard to follow and see where Willie fits in as the emphasis can veer far from the baseball diamond. It seems that Mays simply provides the time frame in which to examine America and its love of baseball more so than the great exploits of such a star. In his opening section to his book Einstein establishes why he focuses on Willie with fan testimonials and comparisons to Ruth and DiMaggio.
This text is a reprint of the original and includes a new preface by the author. It is included in a new series called Writing Baseball and was chosen because of its writing and the popularity of Mays as one of the greatest players to ever grace a baseball diamond.
There are lots of comparisons throughout the text of Mays to Babe Ruth and his career. This might not be the immediate comparison that comes to mind for some but Einstein makes clear he chose Ruth deliberately because of how much he dominated his age with his Herculean homeruns and his larger than life character. Einstein is trying to make the same argument for Mays though Mays falls a bit short because he doe not have the charismatic personality of Ruth, at least not as Einstein presents him. For example, he explains at one point that Mays natural reserve kept him from celebrating as many others players did when they executed a superb play. Mays would not have been one to join in today’s end zone celebrations.
Mays's career marked the beginning and ending of an era according to Einstein. Dimaggio’s career ended with the 1951 Series as Mays and Mantle both found themselves just starting. Mays was joined in the Giants outfield by Henry Thompson and Monte Irvin, an all-black outfield at Yankee Stadium also marked the beginning of a new era. Einstein uses Mays years to show how the game and America were changing, though Mays endured a great deal in his career that he never really talked about. Einstein does a nice job of letting the reader know all about the highlights of Mays career beginning with his rookie of the year award and ending with his induction into the Black Athletes Hall of Fame in 1974. Much of what he relates comes from personal experience, Einstein having had the opportunity to travel with Mays and even work with him in writing two books about his life. Einstein acknowledges that it took a while to get to know Mays but once he did he had a lot of interesting conversations with him like the one he relates after the Kennedy assassination. Einstein credits Mays with being one of only a few people who were willing to say out loud that maybe Kennedy was shot by mistake, that he was not the intended target. These are the kind of stories this book is filled with, details that only someone who knew Mays well would have been privy to. And Einstein has a wonderful touch in telling a story.
One thing readers do have to keep in mind as they read this text is that it is based on one person’s views. There is little if any documentation throughout the book. In fairness the book never makes any claims to be a documented history so if that is what you are looking for this book is not it. If you are a fan of baseball and love a good story then this book is a must read. Fans of Willie Mays will thoroughly enjoy reading about this great ball player and finding out more about his character.
Einstein, Charles. Willie’s Time: Baseball’s Golden Age. Carbondale, IL: Southern Illinois University Press, 2004, original 1979, Penguin. Writing Baseball Series. 352 pp. ISBN 0-8093-2573-X.
Copyright © 2005 by Leslie Heaphy