It was several years ago when Willie Mays summoned his close friend, Jeff Bleich, and secretly revealed that when his time came and he passed away, he had plans he wanted Bleich to carry out.
When he died, Mays told Bleich, he wanted to give back to those who helped him along the way, just as those before him helped pave a path for him to become one of baseball’s greatest players.
“The guys in the industrial league taught him how to play baseball,’ Bleich told USA TODAY Sports. “His coaches, his aunties, took care of him after his mom left. Willie never forgot what they did for him.
“He told me he would have been a dry cleaner if he hadn’t become the greatest ballplayer of all time.’’
So, Mays instructed Bleich to donate virtually his entire Hall of Fame baseball collection to the Say Hey! Foundation, with proceeds from the auction being used to “fulfilling Willie Mays’s dream of giving every child a chance by offering underprivileged youth positive opportunities through athletics, coaching, nutrition, education, and providing safer communities.”
“What a beautiful legacy,’’ Bleich says. “Willie is gone, and he’s still doing stuff nobody else can do.’
Mays, who passed away June 18, 2024, at the age of 93, is donating everything from his 1954 New York Giants World Series ring (valued $500,000 to $1 million) to his 1954 and 1965 MVP awards (valued $250,000 to $500,000) to his Hall of Fame ring (valued for $100,000 to $300,000) to his custom made 1977 Stutz Blackhawk VI car (valued $50,000 to $100,000) to his high-school diploma ($1,500 to $3,000).
The live auction will take place Saturday, Sept. 27 a the King Street Warehouse adjacent to Oracle Park in San Francisco with an online offering for hundreds of other items such as autographed golf clubs, autographed letters from former presidents, autographed boxing gloves from Muhammad Ali, wristwatches, personalized license plates, contracts with the Birmingham Black Barons and Giants, and even his fur coat.
“For all of his achievements as a baseball player,’’ Bleich said, “Willie wanted his enduring legacy to be helping children. He felt very strongly that his life has been enriched by people looking after him.
“Willie believed that every child deserves the chance to make the most of their talents. Willie, who had a lot of disadvantages growing up. always said that he would not have become the ballplayer he was without caring adults in his life who helped get the education and inspiration that he needed.’
Michael Mays, the son of Mays, recently objected to some of the personal items being in the auction such as Mays’ Presidential Medal of Freedom awarded to him in 2015 by President Barack Obama, and honorary doctorate degrees from San Francisco State University, Dartmouth and Yale, arguing that they deserved to be in a museum. Those items will not be part of this auction but could be in the future.
“Willie was very clear of his direction,’ Bleich said. “He had a clear-cut vision to sell all of his honors and awards and for that money to go to kids. He was hoping the money could be used to build a Field of Dreams in Alabama and California, for kids to get the support like Willie did.’
Oh, and Mays did leave one strict order for Bleich in this auction: “Whatever you do, you better break the record.’
It’s unknown what record exists but in 2012, proceeds from an auction of Ted Williams’ memorabilia grossed $3.5 million.
“All Willie wanted,’ Bleich said, “was to pay it forward to raise as much money for kids starting out in life the way he had.’