Bill Greason talks about friend Willie Mays at Rickwood Field

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – It was, quite simply, poetic.

Bill Greason standing on the grass at Rickwood Field, preparing to send a pitch to home plate.

A Black Baron in 1948, Greason played alongside a 17-year-old Willie Mays as Birmingham won the Negro American League pennant. On Thursday night, the 99-year-old right-hander was tapped to toss the ceremonial first pitch for MLB at Rickwood Field: A Tribute to the Negro Leagues.

Though he could no longer take the mound, Greason set up about halfway between it and the plate, gave his best attempt at a windup, then delivered a one-hop throw to Ron Teasley Jr., the son of Ron “Schoolboy” Teasley. Greason is the oldest living Negro League player; Teasley is the second oldest.

“I have many memories of this place because we were the only team that played here other than the white team,” Greason told FOX’s Ken Rosenthal during an in-game interview. “It was a pleasure to be a part of such an experience that we had here.”

Though Greason was just six years Mays’ senior, he took on a mentor role for the late Hall of Famer, who was still in high school when he suited up for the Black Barons. With only two days having passed since Mays’ death, Greason fondly remembered the person he knew well before the rest of the world would come to know him as the Say Hey Kid.

“He was a determined young man,” Greason said. “He had the gifts, the talent, and he was sensitive to listening to those who were older than he was. It was a tremendous blessing, and we turned out to be real close. Like brothers.”

In 1954, Greason reached the Major Leagues, becoming the Cardinals’ first Black pitcher. It was particularly fitting that he watched his former team compete against Mays’ former team on Thursday, especially in their throwback uniforms as a nod to their Negro League counterparts. Greason’s club came away victorious on the night, earning a 6-5 win.

It was all part of a celebration of the history that Greason – who also fought in the battle of Iwo Jima and has been a minister for the past 53 years – and his contemporaries made amid unimaginably difficult circumstances all those years ago.

“Once you make up your mind and see what’s going on and know you can’t change it, you adapt to it and make the best of it. And that’s what we did,” he said. “We didn’t worry too much about segregation because when we get to the ballpark, we put that uniform on, go out and play, come back, change, go. That’s the way it was with us. We didn’t allow segregation to stop us from playing, from using our talents and gifts for what we were there for.”