Willie Mays: Piper Davis saw me play with a club called the Grey Socks. They played us down in my little hometown and they had an exhibition game. And he came down, and I hit a ball about 450. It should have been a home run in any ball park. I was only about 14 then, and I was playing shortstop. Then they hit a ball and it hit me off my chest. Bang! I pick up the ball and go to go to second. The second baseman wasn’t there, so I pick it up and threw it to first. So he said to me, “How did you have that instinct of knowing how to do that?” I said, “Piper, I just reacted. If the guy wasn’t there, why would I throw him the ball? You’ve got to go the next and get that one run out.” So he talked to my father, to let me come and play with the Birmingham Black Barons the next year, which I was around 15. And my father said, “I don’t know if he’s ready. He might be too young.” He said, “Well, I’ll take care of him.” Piper Davis did this for me. If you pitched today, you were my roommate tonight. The next day, another pitcher, he was my roommate. I never went out alone. I never stayed by myself alone. I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.