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Good morning, McCoven!
A year ago today, the Giants retired Barry Bonds’ jersey. I should know, I was there! Despite having conflicting thoughts about Barry Bonds, the person, I had a hard time not being excited to see Bonds the player be honored in this way, especially considering the fact that he might never get the Hall of Fame ceremony he deserves. Willie Mays seemed to be thinking the same thing.
So for today, I thought it might be nice to revisit the speech Mays gave at the ceremony, which was easily the highlight of the afternoon. (Especially since the team ended up getting completely shut out in a little over two hours in the game that followed it).
Mays took the microphone and ultimately the stage to make sure everyone heard what he had to say, as he praised Bonds and made a plea for his godson to be included in the Hall of Fame.
If you’re unable to watch the video, Bryan wrote up the full text of the speech here.