Albert Pujols reflects on Willie Mays at Rickwood Field

This story was excerpted from John Denton’s Cardinals Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — Of the 11 MLB All-Star Games that Albert Pujols appeared in throughout a spectacular 22-year career — one that saw him hit 703 home runs, win two World Series rings and three National League MVP Awards — there was one Midsummer Classic, in particular, that was his favorite.

It wasn’t the 2001 All-Star Game in Seattle, where he made a surprise appearance as a second baseman, or the 2009 game at Busch Stadium, where he was the unofficial mayor of St. Louis for a couple of days as host of the game. It wasn’t even the 2022 All-Star Game, when he was a “legacy” pick, put on a stirring run in the Home Run Derby and was adored throughout the game by teammates and fans.

Instead, the All-Star Game Pujols holds in the highest regard was in San Francisco in 2007, when he got an extended period of time to sit and talk baseball — and life, really — with Willie Mays, a legendary player who always took time to pour his knowledge into the young Cardinals star. How Mays treated Pujols, how he always asked about his kids and how he was always quick with that high-pitched laugh is something that is forever burned into Pujols’ memory.

“I had the opportunity to sit and talk with him several times, and my favorite was in 2007, when I got to spend a lot of time with him and talk,” Pujols said on Wednesday from Rickwood Field, once the home ball field of a 17-year-old Mays, in 1948, when he played for the Birmingham Black Barons. “He was a pretty amazing human being who did so much for this game.

“Every time we went West, and we were in San Francisco, he would take the time to come over and see me just to talk a little bit and ask me about my family. Whether I was struggling or hitting good, it didn’t matter, because Willie cared about others. He was a great gentleman who always wanted to check in with you and make sure you were doing OK. Really, that’s what impressed me the most. Forget about the numbers — he had some of the best numbers in the history of the game — but his legacy is as a great person. He was a great human being who was beloved all over this country. That’s his mark that he left on this game.”

The loss of Mays, who passed away on Tuesday, sent the baseball world into mourning. He was the oldest living Hall of Famer, 93 years old, at the time of his death. Mays died just two days before the Rickwood Field game, where the eyes of the baseball world would shift to his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

Rickwood Field, America’s oldest ballpark at 114 years old — one that even predates Fenway Park (112 years old) and Wrigley Field (110 years old) — hosted the Cardinals and Giants in a nationally televised game that served as a tribute to the Negro Leagues, which produced some of the game’s all-time greatest talents, such as Jackie Robinson, Hank Aaron, Josh Gibson, Satchel Paige and, of course, Mays.

Mays’ raw talent took him all the way to the big leagues, where he used his exuberance and energy to become one of the game’s most dynamic forces. For as great as Mays was as a player — quite possibly the most well-rounded player in the game’s history — he was held in equally high regard by those who were lucky enough to be in his aura.

Cardinals Hall of Famer Willie McGee, who grew up in Oakland but idolized Mays across the bay in San Francisco, got the pleasure of meeting his hero late in his career when he was with the Giants. What he found was that Mays, the person, was just as impactful as Mays, the slick-fielding center fielder with the 660 career home runs.

“Willie Mays was Willie Mays — one of a kind,” McGee said. “The way he played, the way he hustled and the way he ran the bases, I just loved watching him play. And then I get to play for the Giants, and meet Willie, and what a guy — even better than I could have imagined. He was one of the humblest people I’ve ever met, but I always remembered how fast he talked. He was just so amazing to me.”

Though Mays’ passing cast a distinct pall over MLB’s long-awaited trip to Rickwood, Pujols said his personal mission was to treat Thursday’s MLB game as a celebration of the life of an icon who always took time out to pour back into him.

“It’s sad because of who he was and what he meant for this game, but to be able to come back here and celebrate his life and his legacy, it’s pretty amazing,” Pujols said. “Unfortunately, we lost a great human being, but his legacy will live forever.”