My Willie Mays Moment

 

The recent passing of Willie Mays has left us sad. Willie was probably my major sports figure growing up. The Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958. I was 10 years old. My dad took me to my first Giants game in 1959. I got to see the old Seals Stadium. One of my vivid memories was seeing Joe DiMaggio at a hot dog stand. I believe the Giants won the game, because they won the first couple of games I attended.

Thinking back to Willie. I mainly followed him  on radio. Russ Hodges and Lon Simmons. In those days the only local Giants games were when they were visiting the Dodgers. So most of my memories of him are first hand memories of him when I was at games. My 2 most vivid memories of him were ironically when he was picked off at second base and a swinging strike. I saw him hit a couple of home runs. But the first started when he was picked off second base. Mays was a great base runner who was very aggressive and not afraid to take chances. In fact let's say he willingly courted danger.  Willie executed an Aikido like move when the second baseman tried to tag him. He dodged the tag with an entering off the line move. Instead of freezing and getting caught in a run down, he put pressure on the defense by taking off for third base. A bold exciting move. This forced the second baseman to rush his throw and it sailed into the outfieled. Mays flew around 3rd, streaking for home. The outfielder made a great throw, Mays slid, and.....was tagged out. To this day from where I was sitting, I think he was safe..

But the excitement and memories he generated by recording an out. For my money the greatest ballplayer of all time. Not the greatest hitter. Or necessarily the greatest outfielder(although you would have an argument here), or stole the most bases, or had the strongest arm.....But overall the greatest Ball Player. Could hit. Hit with power. Field and throw, both with flair, ran the bases and raised your pulse.....For my money the greatest BALLPLAYER!!

The second memory was I believe in 1966 at Candlestick. He took a viscious swing. Although it was a swinging strike the whole stadium shook with the force and power of that swing. How may players can say they generated a fan's most vivid moments by being thrown out on the base paths and swinging and missing? Probably only Willie.

Another feature of Mays showmanship was chasing down fly balls and making impossible catches. And his cap would fly off. It became signature. In fact I remember one of the radio announcers blurting out when Mays was in pursuit of a deep drive, "There goes the cap!!!"

So how does all this translate into a Willie Mays movement during by Aikido career?

I went to Japan to train in Aikido in 1973. My dojo there was the Kumano Juku Dojo in Shingu City, Wakayama Prefecture. Hikitsuchi  sensei was dojo head, Anno, Yanase, and Tojima senseis were of shihan rank and calibre and also taught.

My story concerns Yanase sensei. After one evening class I requested some extra training from Yanase sensei. He was known for his impeccable technique and being tireless. It was an ukemi session where I was thrown, got up, attacked again, thrown again, got up, attacked again. I think you get the picture. Aikido is not an art where you spar with the teacher. The teacher is like a master swordmaker. You are the sword being forged. Fire. Being pounded and shaped. Being put into water. Back into fire. More pounding and shaping. Back into the water. This is called ukemi, the art of falling. Ukemi is from the Japanese verb ukeru, literally to receive. So my job was the receive the throw by providing a good attack, role or fall safely, get up, and repeat. Linda Holiday sensei, who was present, insist the session was 46 minutes. I was too occupied to pay attention to the time.

Now the Willie Mays part: My job was to keep going at him, like Mays going after fly ball after fly ball. As the session progressed my belt flow off. But just like Willie and his cap, I kept in pursuit. Since my belt flew off, it was only a matter of time before my gi top flew off. But even bare chested I kept getting up, attacking, receiving the technique. Finally the session ended when when I was hit in the face and one of my contact lenses appeared to have been dislodged.

And through the whole thing one of the things that motivated me to keep going was the joy and energy that I saw in Willie! Truly a gift.

And after the session I was in an altered state. The whole dojo seemed like it was a  glimmering field of energy. Part of me realized that due to Aikido's nature, Yanase sensei was feeding me energy. And if I was able to receive it(not fight it) and somewhat match it with my own, something profound was generated.

Anyway, here is a video of a session with Yanase sensei. I was not a black belt so I'm the white belt. And it is not THE session:

https://youtu.be/jrMorkThnT0?si=RaDTseXyqnmq5Qqt

Or:

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