You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!

You Never Heard of Willie Mays?!
by Jonah Winter & Terry Widener
Schwartz & Wade, 2013. Unpaged. Biography.

The Say Hey Kid comes up big in this terrific picture book biography of the boy from Westfield, Alabama who would become perhaps the greatest all-around baseball player ever. Mays started out in the Negro Leagues with the Chattanooga Choo-Choos and then helped the Birmingham Black Barons win the pennant. After Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier for the big leagues, Willie Mays joined the New York Giants in the Polo Grounds and in his first at bat there, hit the ball out of the park, literally, against Warren Spahn, for cryin' out loud. The rest is history and that history is beautifully well written by Jonah Winter and beautifully well illustrated by Terry Widener. A terrific follow up to this dynamic duo's Sandy Koufax biography, You Never Heard of Willie Mays?! is a great book for young baseball fans and kids who should know the history of America's Pastime. Plus, the holographic cover shows Willie's sweet swing over and over, the ball flying off the end of the page and into the seats.

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