A recent book by Willie Mays and John Shea shares Mays’s thoughts on the lessons he learned throughout his life. The title is 24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.

The book was brought to my attention by a friend of Youman Wilder, who runs The Harlem Baseball Hitting Academy. The story of Wilder and the Academy is featured in the Mays book. Their web site is http://HARLEMBASEBALLACADEMY.ORG/, but is down as they are in the process of upgrading. Here is their Facebook page.

New York Sports Connection conducted an extensive interview with Wilder a few years ago, and he brings across the good work of the academy. The just don’t teach baseball, they teach hard work and require players keep up a good grade point average in high school. When asked what makes his program different, Wilder points to the success of his charges:

I also think we have been successful because we stress hard work. We’ve had players on five of the last eight PSAL city baseball championship teams and three of the last five NCAA Division I baseball National Championship teams. One of our former members was on the Boston Red Sox 2013 World Series team and we’ve had 20 kids drafted into the MLB. Having our alumni come back and help also sets us apart. These graduates return with Masters degrees and MBAs. They come from the same backgrounds as those in our program now so can relate to them. We like to stress that just because you live in the projects does not mean that you have to stay in the projects. “Preparation prepares you to succeed.”

NewYorkSportsConnection.com

He also tells a great Dellin Betances story, one of his favorite sports memories:

But I guess the biggest memory was when we were asked to play in a showcase in Brooklyn. We had never played as a team because we were (and still are) an instructional program. Still, we went to Brooklyn and there were about 200-300 scouts and college coaches there to recruit Dellin Betances (now an All-Star pitcher with the Yankees). He was warming up in the bullpen throwing 95/96 mph before starting against us and no one paid any attention to us. We scored four runs against him in the first inning and four more in the second and knocked him out of the game. That was the moment I knew that what I was doing here in Harlem had significance and from there we have never looked back.

Mays, of course, was involved with the youth of Harlem during his early years with the Giants. Wilder continues that involvement and takes it to the next level.

Here is their Go-Fund-Me page. As I face my first father’s day without a dad, a donation in his honor to the sport we both loved seems appropriate. Maybe you spare a few dollars to help someone’s son also.