The names on the figurative marquee were a definite indication that the East Room at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. was the place to be. Barbara Streisand, Steven Spielberg and Gloria and Emilio Estefan were, for the most part, the fodder for the throngs of media in attendance, but a few wanted to see one man: “The Say Hey Kid,” Willie Mays. The event? The presentation of the 2015 Medals of Freedom. The aforementioned names were among the 17 recipients of the highest civilian award of the United States. Defined further, it recognizes those individuals who have made “an especially meritorious contribution to the security or national interests of the United States, world peace, cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” As a Bronx-bred, staunch baseball fan, many summer days during my childhood were spent near Yankee Stadium. The initial goal was to get a glimpse and maybe an autograph from stars of the home team or, even better, the superstars of the visiting team.
Looking back, my autograph collection was impressive. Rod Carew, Lyman Bostock, Cecil Cooper, Eddie Murray, Ken Singleton, Jim Rice and Reggie Jackson are some of the names accumulated. I mention those names because they would engage in conversations with a few lucky fans, and they all will make mention of the exploits that occurred across the bridge at the Polo Grounds—the same observations that my pops, uncles, barber and sportswriters hailed.
Before being hailed as the home of Teddy Riley, that’s where Willie Mays called home and patrolled the real estate in center field. In 1951, in his 13th at bat, Mays ingratiated himself with the home crowd with a home run off future Hall of Famer Warren Spahn. He finished his 121-game rookie season with a .274 batting average, 68 RBIs and 20 homers, all of which was good enough to garner the 1951 Rookie of the Year Award.
That season set in motion the career of arguably the all-around greatest baseball player ever. His career numbers read 660 home runs, 3,283 hits, 1,903 RBIs, 338 stolen bases, 12 Golden Glove Awards and an All-Star 24 times over. Those combined numbers display all-around excellence and were the yardstick for future torchbearers such as Barry Bonds and Ken Griffey Jr. Those numbers also provided a model for achievement beyond athletics.
“It’s because of giants like Willie that someone like me could think about running for president,” said President Barack Obama in his heartfelt introduction of Mays. Additionally, New York Yankee legend and fellow icon Lawrence “Yogi” Berra was a posthumous recipient.
Shirley Chisholm, a pioneer like Mays, was a trailblazer for Obama. Her listed accomplishments include being the first African-American woman elected to the United States Congress, representing New York’s 12th Congressional District for seven terms from 1969 to 1983. More importantly, in 1972, she became the first major party Black candidate for president of the United States and the first woman ever to run for the Democratic presidential nomination.
“Shirley Chisholm’s example transcends her life. And when asked how she’d like to be remembered, she had an answer: ‘ I’d like them to say that Shirley Chisholm had guts.’ And I’m proud to say it: Shirley Chisholm had guts,” Obama said.
Also of interest as a winner was Katherine G. Johnson. Johnson broke barriers of gender and race as a physicist, space scientist and mathematician. During her tenure at NASA, National Aeronautics and Space Administration, her accuracy in computerized celestial navigation led her to be the first person selected to calculate the trajectory for Project Mercury and the 1969 Apollo 11 flight to the moon. That’s work.
Obama concluded, “This is an extraordinary group, one that demonstrates what an incredible tapestry this country is.”
Indeed. Over and Out. Holla next week. Till then, enjoy the nightlife.