MLB Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson sat down with a Fox Sports panel at historic Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Alabama., On Thursday night, following the death of Willie Mays, the baseball world was in mourning, just as the rest of the baseball world was in mourning.
Mays died peacefully on Tuesday afternoon at the age of 93, two days before a highly anticipated game between the St. Louis Cardinals and his San Francisco Giants was to be played on the same Negro League field where he played for the Birmingham Black Barons as a boy hoping to make it into professional baseball.
Fellow Hall of Famer Derek Jeter kicked off the memorial by posting a text message exchange between him and Jackson, who Jackson said he’d “always liked.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON FOXNEWS.COM
Reggie Jackson stands on the field before the Oakland Athletics vs. New York Yankees game at the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum on Thursday, August 22, 2019 in Oakland, California. (Jose Carlos Fajardo/Media News Group/East Bay Times via Getty Images)
“‘He was at least one of the best players of all time,'” Jackson allegedly texted Jeter. “‘We all wanted to be like Willie. When you play against him, you get hooked watching Willie. He was a pure baseball player. My all-time favorite, I love him. We all wanted to be like Willie.'”
Jackson further spoke of his respect for Mays, whom he knew well as a young MLB player.
Johnny Bench recalls a funny incident when Willie Mays tried to steal his signs: “You got me!”
“Willie Mays had a love for baseball, Derek,” Jackson said. “Watching the way he did it in spring training, I learned to wear my uniform the same way Willie Mays did. I didn’t wear long pants, I didn’t wear heels over my cleats. I learned from watching Willie Mays. He was the first guy to have tapered uniforms. Him and Mickey Mantle.”
“His love of baseball and his respect for the game. In Derek’s day, people would complain about what was happening to minorities and stuff like that, and he kept his mouth shut about it. He kept his mouth shut because he loved baseball. But what I admire about him is the way he approached the game and taught people like me how to play baseball.”
Both Mays and Jackson faced racism during their baseball careers in Birmingham, where Jackson played Double-A baseball for the Kansas City Athletics in 1967, making his major league debut that same year.
Willie Mays visits PS46 in Harlem, next to the site of the old Polo Grounds where the New York Giants played before moving to San Francisco in 1958, in New York City on January 21, 2011. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
“It’s not easy coming back here when people ask me questions like that,” Jackson said.
But Jackson, and everyone in the Magic City Thursday night, understood the importance of highlighting the Negro Leagues and Rickwood Field, America’s oldest baseball stadium.
Before the game, Mays’ son, Michael, told the Rickwood crowd to cheer as loud as they could because his late father was listening.
Reggie Jackson said Willie Mays, who died peacefully at home on Tuesday, was his favorite player of all time. (Getty Images)
Click here to get the FOX News app
With many former Negro League players on the field with the Giants and Cardinals, the cheers eventually gave way to chants of “Willie! Willie!” which continued for a while.
Follow Fox News Digital X’s sports coverage subscribe Fox News Sports Huddle Newsletter.
