The Life of Willie Mays Exhibit
City of Birmingham to Unveil New Exhibit Honoring Willie Mays
BIRMINGHAM, AL — The Negro Southern League Museum (NSLM), in partnership with the City of Birmingham and the Center for Negro League Baseball Research (CNLBR), proudly announces the unveiling of a new exhibit honoring the life and legacy of Alabama native and baseball legend Willie Mays. The exhibit unveiling will take place during a special ceremony on Wednesday, July 16, 2025, at 12:00 PM in the City Council Chambers at Birmingham City Hall.
The event is sponsored by Jefferson County Commissioner Sheila Tyson and curated by Dr. Layton Revel, Executive Director of the CNLBR whose ongoing advocacy has helped bring renewed attention to the legacy of one of America’s greatest athletes.
A Timely Tribute to a National Icon
This exhibit comes at a time of renewed national interest in Willie Mays and the legacy of Black baseball in America. Most recently, it was announced that some of Willie Mays’s most treasured memorabilia—including items from his playing days and personal collection—will be auctioned off to collectors around the country, placing his story once again at the center of the national consciousness.
In June 2024, Major League Baseball returned to Rickwood Field—where Mays began his professional career as a teenage phenom with the Birmingham Black Barons—for a nationally televised tribute to the Negro Leagues. That historic moment ignited widespread appreciation for Mays’s roots and Birmingham’s pivotal role in baseball history.
Momentum continued this year with the East-West All-Star Classic at Rickwood Field on Juneteenth, reaffirming the cultural and historical significance of Birmingham and the Negro Leagues on a national stage.
In addition, Willie Mays Park in Fairfield—a long-standing symbol of both community pride and disrepair—has undergone a meaningful renovation. The effort, led in part by Michael Mays, Willie’s son, represents a renewed local commitment to honoring Mays’ legacy and creating vibrant spaces for youth and community development.Although travel constraints will prevent Michael Mays from attending the unveiling, he has sent a letter of support for the City’s efforts and reiterating his late father’s enduring message to him: “Take care of Fairfield.”
Part I: Birmingham-Born, Negro League Raised
Willie Howard Mays Jr. was born in 1931 in Westfield, Alabama, a mining town just outside Birmingham. Raised in the Fairfield community, Mays grew up during segregation, but baseball was already in his blood—his father played for on local semi-pro industrial league teams, and young Willie would often tag along. By the age of 16, he was suiting up on weekend to play minor Negro League baseball for the Chattanooga Choo-Choos of the Negro Southern League. Soon after, he made his way up to play as a pro for the Birmingham Black Barons of the Negro American League.
As the Negro League’s young promising star, Mays dazzled crowds with his five-tool talent, drawing scouts’ attention with a maturity and skill far beyond his years. Jackie Robinson had just broken major league baseball’s color barrier opening the door for integrated pro sports in America – scouts clamored to be the first to sign the young baseball prodigy from Fairfield Industrial High School.
Part II: A Giant in Every Way
Mays signed with the New York Giants in 1950, breaking into the Major Leagues the following year. What followed was one of the most decorated careers in sports history:
- 660 home runs
- 24 All-Star selections
- 12 Gold Gloves
- 1954 World Series champion
- Hall of Fame inductee in 1979
Mays’s impact transcended the game. He became the highest-paid athlete in America, a trailblazer not just on the field but in business. He was one of the first African American athletes to land national endorsement deals, representing brands like AlaGa Syrup, Coca-Cola, Wheaties, and Chevrolet. His smile and spirit became synonymous with charm, charisma and greatness shrouded with humility, and his influence stretched from Harlem to Hollywood.
Yet despite his growing legend and Hall of Fame Status, his relationship with his hometown remained complex. No parades, no keys to the city, no formal recognition of one of the world’s biggest stars until decades later, when recognition finally arrived under the leadership of the city’s first Black mayor, Dr. Richard Arrington, Jr. Arrington declared an official Willie Mays Day in Birmingham and made him Grand Marshall of the city’s Magic City Classic. Mays’s later years included the nation’s highest honors -the Presidential Medal of Freedom and Congressional Gold Medal.
About the Negro Southern League Museum
Founded in 2015, the NSLM is a nationally recognized cultural institution dedicated to preserving the history of Black baseball in America, with a special emphasis on the Negro Southern League and Birmingham’s foundational role in that legacy. It houses one of the largest collections of Negro League memorabilia in the United States.
About Dr. Layton Revel
Dr. Layton Revel is the Executive Director of the Center for Negro League Baseball Research and co-founder of the Negro Southern League Museum. Over the last four decades, he has worked tirelessly to preserve the stories of Black baseball and reclaim forgotten chapters of American sports history.