Beschreibung:

Press photograph of Willie Mays and Hank Sauer. Jim Edelen: San Francisco, 1958. San Francisco Examiner reference library stamp and Jim Edelen stamp to the verso. 8 x 10 in. Pictures left fielder Hank Sauer and center fielder Willie Mays in the back of a convertible during a welcoming parade for the Giants' inaugural season in San Francisco. Mays holds a festive balloon and a banner on the side of the car identifies the players. Throngs of parade watchers are visible in the background. The parade was held on April 14, 1958 to welcome the Giants to San Francisco as they had just relocated from New York in an effort to expand Major League Baseball to the west coast. They would play the Dodgers, who had also relocated west, the next day, winning against their perpetual rivals 8-0. Although Jackie Robinson had broken the color lines over a decade earlier in 1947, there were several teams who remained segregated at the time of the photo, with the Boston Red Sox not integrating until over a year later on July 21, 1959. Mays has the distinction of being California's first African American team sports superstar. Although he was the best player in the league at the prime of his career, and despite what this picture may suggest, Willie Mays was not warmly received in San Francisco. He found it difficult to secure housing as homeowners did not want an African American neighbor. Although he eventually found a suitable home, someone threw a brick through his window shortly after he arrived. In spite of these difficulties, Mays had a storied career, leading the Giants to the World Series in 1962 and named the National League's Most Valuable Player for the second time in 1965.