“Willie Mays - San Francisco Chronicle” plus 3 more

Willie Mays - San Francisco Chronicle
Taron Trekka - Swing Swing - Resident Advisor
State fought several times to keep Saints - Alexandria Daily Town Talk
Book events calendar - The State

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 06:22 AM PST

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By James S. Hirsch

(Scribner; 628 pages; $30)

Willie Mays and Babe Ruth are the greatest baseball players of all time. There are many other greats: Joe DiMaggio, Ted Williams, Jackie Robinson, Mickey Mantle, Roberto Clemente. Biographies exist for all of them, but to date there has been no authorized biography of Mays. Why did we have to wait until the man is 78 years old?

Despite all the joy he took in the game and dispensed to the fans, Mays has a reputation as being isolated and irascible. "No one really knows Willie Mays," said the baseball historian Bill James. Mays may be a celebrity, but he is a very private person. And he wants a piece of everything he is involved in. James S. Hirsch, the author of a terrific new biography, "Willie Mays: The Life, the Legend," admits that Mays will get half of the book's proceeds (much of Mays' earnings will go to the Say Hey Foundation.)

It took seven years for Hirsch to win the confidence of his subject, until Mays realized it was better to reveal himself to a trusted biographer - the author of "Hurricane: The Miraculous Journey of Rubin Carter" - than to leave legend to chance. He cooperated with interviews, gave contacts for people in his life, going back to his Alabama childhood, and shared his archives, but did not interfere with the author's opinions.

That being said, don't expect any confessions by Mays about his godson Barry Bonds' use of steroids. (The Say Hey Kid, always remarkably fit, apparently didn't drink or smoke. During a celebration after one pennant win, it was reported that he had a sip of Champagne in the clubhouse - and promptly passed out on a training table.)

Mays came up to the major leagues with the New York Giants in 1951, at age 20. He began professional baseball while still in high school, in the Negro Leagues. (Throughout his book, Hirsch ably demonstrates how baseball and society came to accept black players, albeit all too slowly.) Playing on a Triple-A team in Minneapolis, after only 35 games he was hitting .477, had eight home runs, 30 RBIs and eight stolen bases.

Leo Durocher, the manager of the Giants, immediately made him starting centerfielder. Mays was treated as the Second Coming. What was instant fame for a kid lasted a lifetime. Small wonder that this gifted young man should seek solitude away from the panting public, that he should have become less trusting of adults who wanted to profit by him. Hirsch shows us how he trusted children and gave of himself to them.

Bay Area readers will appreciate when, halfway through this lengthy but always engaging and enlightening book, the scene shifts to San Francisco. The Giants and Dodgers left New York, to the grief of that city but to the exultation of fans here and in Los Angeles. Hirsch captures the hectic scene: "In the financial district, ticker tape, torn telephone books, and papers were thrown from office buildings. Cable cars clanged, horns blared. Some streetcars were rocked, and trolleys were pulled off wires. Market Street was jammed until long past midnight."

Mays, who had six seasons in New York, 1951-57, was only 26 when he came to San Francisco, 5 feet 11 inches and 185 pounds of bone, muscle and brains. Among the book's revelations are many stories about Mays' intelligence: how he would fake a limp or slow down when running the bases to discombobulate the opposing team; how he assessed players and plays, using his impressive memory to anticipate hitters, runners and defenders and to guide his teammates. Some of this was showmanship, learned earlier in the Negro Leagues, and his awareness that baseball is entertainment as well as sport.

I am old enough to have watched Mays play at Candlestick Park, and what I remember most about those games, played from 1958 to 1972, is not Willie's hits and home runs (he hit 52 in 1965 and batted .317), his speed and derring-do on the base paths or his defensive plays (the basket catch, the rocket arm). It was his loping in from center field after the third out. He ran gracefully, his relaxed action epitomizing the pleasure and pace of baseball. I waited for that motion picture at the end of every inning.

Hirsch's well-researched and well-written biography vividly brings back those memories, and probably will do so for many other readers. For those too young to have seen Mays on the field, the book will make for a wonderful introduction to the magical life of one of the finest athletes ever.

Andrew Hoyem is publisher of San Francisco's Arion Press, whose books include "A Day in the Bleachers," by Arnold Hano. E-mail him at books@sfchronicle.com.

This article appeared on page FE - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle

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Taron Trekka - Swing Swing - Resident Advisor

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 05:25 AM PST

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State fought several times to keep Saints - Alexandria Daily Town Talk

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 06:36 AM PST

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(2 of 2)

Former Gov. Mike Foster said the negotiations that sprang up during his term "weren't as much a threat to leave as it was Mr. Benson wanting a new stadium."

But leaving was an option, so the Legislature agreed to a deal negotiated by Foster in 2001 calling for the state to pay the Saints $186.5 million in concessions and annual payments to keep the team in New Orleans through 2010. The payments began at $12.5 million in 2001, increased to $15 million and jumped to $23.5 million in 2008 through 2010.

"They're a moneymaker for us, so it was an easy call for me," Foster said. "I have no regrets keeping them.

"I found Mr. Benson very reasonable," Foster said from his home in Franklin. "The only thing that was unreasonable is he wanted the state to build a new stadium. There's nothing wrong with the Superdome" that some renovations didn't fix during Foster's tenure.

The biggest threat of losing the Saints came after Hurricane Katrina ravaged the roof of the Superdome and thousands of evacuees did even more damage inside. The Saints played several home games in San Antonio, where Benson owns car dealerships and a home.

The Texas crowds were receptive, the San Antonio mayor wanted the Saints, and it didn't appear that the Superdome would be available for a long time -- if ever. So Benson could have had a sound reason for breaking the team's lease on the dome.

Former Gov. Kathleen Blanco, in Fort Lauderdale for the Super Bowl, said Benson still wanted a new stadium when she took office, "but the storm changed the direction of that dramatically." She said that although her decision to rebuild the Superdome after Katrina was heavily criticized by some, "we would not be going to the Super Bowl because we would have lost the Saints" if the facility had not been rebuilt.

"We had to get it up by the next year or Mr. Benson said he was out of here," she said. NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue "asked if a two-year project could be compressed into seven months."

"It was touch and go for a while," Blanco said. "In the first weeks after the storm, I was concerned that it might have to be taken down. It looked so bad."

A month before the deadline for releasing Benson from the contract, equipment was strewn across the Superdome field, she said, but everything was in place in time for the Saints to play their first season back at home. The only things left to be done were finishing touches in the new luxury booths.

Reopening the Superdome was viewed as a sign that New Orleans could recover from Katrina, and Blanco said she "knew it was the right decision for so many reasons. It demonstrated that we could come through a disaster. We were all in this together."

Gov. Bobby Jindal this year renegotiated the state's deal with the Saints that will continue the team's commitment to the state through 2025 and also create a new Sports Development District.

As part of the deal, the Benson family was to purchase and redevelop the New Orleans Centre and Dominion Tower and the state would pay rent to Benson.

Jindal said the terms of the new deal would save the state more than $280 million over the next 17 years.

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Book events calendar - The State

Posted: 07 Feb 2010 06:36 AM PST

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JENNY SANFORD BOOK SIGNING: Jenny Sanford will sign copies of her book, "Staying True," in which she recounts her shock and anguish upon learning her husband, Gov. Mark Sanford, was having an affair with a woman in Argentina, at 7 p.m. Friday, Barnes & Noble, 2400 Forest Drive. (803) 787-5600

SECOND ANNUAL MILLICAN LITERARY FESTIVAL: Sponsored by USC and a host of organizations, this festival pays tribute to South Carolina writer, educator and protege of Langston Hughes, Arthenia Bates-Millican. Keynote speaker for the event will be writer and political activist Amiri Baraka, 7 p.m. Friday, Swearingen Engineering Center, 315 S. Main St. http://www.artheniambates.com

MEET AND GREET WITH DEVA GANTT: Meet sisters and co-authors Deb and Val Gantt, aka DeVa Gantt, at this book signing for the third book in the Colette trilogy, "Forever Waiting," 1-5 p.m. Friday, Burry Bookstore, Hartsville. (843) 332-2511; http://www.burrybookstore.com

S.C. CENTER FOR THE BOOK: Carl Naylor will discuss his book "The Day the Johnboat Went Up the Mountain: Stories from My Twenty Years in South Carolina Maritime Archaeology," at noon Feb. 19 at 1430 Senate St., Room 309. Free; bag lunches encouraged. (803) 734-8928; http://www.statelibrary.sc.gov

S.C. BOOK FESTIVAL: The 14th annual S.C. Book Festival will be held Feb. 26-28 at the Columbia Metropolitan Convention Center, 1101 Lincoln St. In addition to national and regional authors, the festival will include book appraisals, master classes, panel discussions, book signings, sales and more. For a complete list of authors and events or to register for classes, visit http://www.scbookfestival.org.

SOUTH CAROLINA POETRY INITIATIVE 2010: The University of South Carolina is accepting submissions for the annual South Carolina Poetry Initiative. The contest is limited to writers ages 16 and older. Winning poems will be published in The State, and cash prizes are available.

Poems should be previously unpublished and limited to 70 lines. Each entry must be accompanied by a cover sheet that includes the name of the poem and the author's name, address, phone number, e-mail address and date of birth, as well as a 50- to 75-word biography. The author's name should not appear on the page with the poem. More than one poem may be submitted, but each poem will be considered a single entry. A $5 entry fee should accompany each entry and be made payable to USC Educational Foundation. Mail entries to: Kwame Dawes/poetry contest, c/o University of South Carolina, South Carolina Poetry Initiative, Department of English, Welsh Humanities Office Building, Columbia, SC 29208. Entries must be postmarked by Feb. 26. For additional details and guidelines, call (803) 777-0307 or visit http://www.sc.edu/poetry.

PICCOLO FICTION OPEN: Piccolo Spoleto is accepting submissions for its 10th Piccolo Fiction Open. Stories should be limited to 1,000 words and sent in Microsoft Word document format in one e-mail to both thompsonl@ci.charleston.sc.us and lisa@eatgoodbread.com. List in the subject line 2010 PFO Application. The deadline for submissions is March 10. There are no residency restrictions, and authors of winning stories will be invited to read their submissions at Blue Bicycle Books in Charleston during the festival. For more information, call (843) 724-3705. http://www.piccolospoleto.com

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Biographies

Sunday, February 7, 2010