How Willie Mays Made A Little Kid's Dream Come
True
by Benson Wong
Benson Wong - 8 years old
When I was 8
years old, I heard from a
schoolmate that my hero,
Willie Mays, moved into the
neighborhood, right down the
block on Spruce St. in San
Francisco.
One morning while Mom was
rushing off to work, I informed her
that I felt too sick to go to
school. Mom stood in front of my bed
and told me, "I want you to Stay in
Bed, No TV and No Playing
Around!"
Shortly after Mom left, I got out
of bed (I felt much better) ...and
peeked out the window and watched
her get on the 55 Sacramento bus.
Then I brushed my teeth, washed my
face, and put on my Giants (Willie
Mays #24) uniform...grabbed my
cap, glove, bat, ball, pen, and
autograph book...and headed down
the street to pay Willie Mays a
visit.
On
my way to visit Willie, I was a
little nervous about walking down
the street and being seen by my
neighbors, especially by Mr. &
Mrs. White. They were both
passionate about getting a good
education. Mrs. White was the
consummate educator in the SFUSD
for many years.
As
I quickly walked past their house,
I heard a voice calling out,
"Young fella, where are you going?
Aren't you supposed to be in
school? You shouldn't be out
playing now. You've got to get an
education!"
I
said, Hi Mr. White. I will, but I
have to go see Willie Mays first.
Mr. White responded, "Willie Mays,
where???" I pointed to Willie's
building as Mr. White came down
the stairs and walked with me to
the corner.
I
asked Mr. White if he wanted to go
see Willie with me. Mr. White
softly said, "Ok, You better hurry
up and go see Willie!"
As
I got to Willie's front door, I
turned around and saw Mr. White
watching me from across the
street. I smiled and waved to him
and thought, Good thing Mrs. White
is at school or else we might be
in Big Trouble.
I
rang Willie's doorbell and when
Willie pulled the handle (from the
3rd floor) that opened the front
door down on the 1st floor, he
called out, "Who's there?" in a
deep, and kind of loud and scary
voice. I answered (in my 8 yr.
old, high pitched voice) "It's me
Willie. Can I have your
autograph?" There was a slight
pause, and then Willie said, "Come
on up!"
Willie lived up on the third
floor...that had a long, winding
flight of stairs. When I got about
half-way up the stairs, Willie
asked me, "What's taking you so
long???" I answered, "I dropped my
ball and it's rolling down the
stairs." Willie said, "Well, hurry
up and go get it!" I answered,
"Ok, Willie."
When I finally got my ball, (which
bounced all the way back down to
the 1st floor) and made it to the
3rd floor, Willie was standing at
the top of the stairs with a
spatula in his hand. I said, hi to
Willie, and asked him what he was
doing with that. (I smelled eggs
cooking) Willie didn't answer me,
but he had a smile on his face as
he put the spatula between his
knees and started signing my bat,
glove, ball, and autograph book.
I
then proceeded to make an
innocent, but stupid comment:
"Willie, You know what? You Are My
Best Fan!" and Willie answered,
"Oh Yeah?" I said, yeah. Then I
said to myself, "How stupid of
me!"...but I didn't correct
myself.
Then I asked Willie if I could see
his trophies. Willie led me to a
large glass display case that had
some of his pictures, gold gloves,
gold bats, balls, and other
trophies. All I could say was,
"WOW!"
Before I finally left Willie's
apartment, I had the nerve to ask
Willie if I could be his batboy
sometime, and he answered, "We'll
see. Come back another time
because I have to get to the
ballpark." I thanked Willie and
then left.
As
I was walking home, I heard Mr.
White's voice, "Ben, well, let me
see what you got! Oh yeah, that
says Willie Mays for sure. That's
the real thing. Mmmm hmmm. You
better keep that safe. That will
be very valuable someday. You
better hurry up and get to school
now!"
I
said, ok...but when I got home, I
was a little hungry, so I got a
spatula and pan out, and made some
scrambled eggs. (I even put the
spatula between my knees, just
like Willie did).
Then I opened my lunchpail and ate
my lunch that Mom made for me. I
stayed home for the rest of the
day and kept thinking about what
just happened. WoW, I did it! I
saw Willie Mays and talked to him!
Woo Hoo! Yes!
...and Yes, I did get in a little
trouble. I made the mistake of
getting too excited and telling my
older sister what happened. She
couldn't wait for Mom to get home
so that she could tattle on
me...Sigh. I got a lecture and was
probably grounded from
something...can't remember. But it
was all worth it!
As
you can imagine, I was on cloud
nine, the happiest kid in the
world.
The
next season, I got to be a batboy
for a day for Willie and the SF
Giants.
Note: My parents found out about
me being a batboy in Herb Caen's
column. I was shocked when my Dad
showed me the short article and
asked me about it. The article
read something like, "The most
envied kid in town. Benson Wong
got to sit in the dugout and be
Willie Mays' batboy for the day."
I
wondered how Herb Caen knew?
I wish that I could find that
article.
Willie
and Ben in Willie's Kitchen.
Willie Mays' kindness helped set the tone for
my love for sports. The simple dream of
wanting to meet Willie Mays, and then making
that dream come true, also helped mold my
positive outlook on life and gave me the
courage, confidence and knowingness that I
could create and have just about anything I
wanted in life, if I set my mind to it.
P.S. I recently
read this story to Mom. She smiled and said
that I was a naughty boy for fibbing to
her.about being too sick to go to school. I
said, "Sorry Mom!" We both laughed. Mom is 92
years old now. She was 34 years old when this
happened. lol. 😊
My story was
featured in "The Ultimate Sports Guide"
on July 3, 2018. I never thought of publishing
this story. One day, I just decided to put it
on paper to share with my kids, family, and a
few friends.. Photographer extraordinaire Ed
Jay read my story and liked it a lot. He
presented the story to the magazine. Cool!
Thank you, Ed.Jay and The Ultimate Sports
Guide.
Ben at Candlestick Park, S.F.
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