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Willie Mays bought a 15-room mansion in a New York City suburb to escape housing discrimination in San Francisco and remained under the radar, as rumors swirled about a crumbling marriage.
When the New York Giants moved to the Bay Area in 1957, buyers didn’t want to sell to Mays, despite his superstar fame, because owners “stand to lose a lot if colored people move in,” Mays said in an interview, according to James Hirsch’s biography about Mays’ life.
“Down in Alabama where we come from, you know your place,” Mays said in an interview, according to Hirsch. “But up here, it’s a lot of camouflage. They grin in your face and deceive you.”
The racist housing debacle made national headlines, which he wanted to avoid. He bought a castle-like home 3,000 miles away in New Rochelle, New York, for $75,000 in 1960 from Samuel and Pauline Zaretsky, according to the deed obtained by Fox News Digital.
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Hall of Famer Willie Mays tips his cap during introductions for the first game of the World Series between the Giants and the Detroit Tigers on Oct. 24, 2012, in San Francisco. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./The Sacramento Bee via AP, File)
New Rochelle, nicknamed the “Queen City of the Sound,” is about 30 minutes north of Midtown Manhattan and is the seventh most populated city in New York state.
Mays and his first wife, Margherite, were among the first Black families who moved into the upscale, secluded section of the north end of the city.
The headline in The New York Times on May 28, 1960, read, “WILLIE MAYS BUYS WESTCHESTER HOME; Neighbors in New Rochelle Welcome Negro Family to $75,000 Stone House.”
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City historian Barbara Davis told Fox News Digital that they mostly stayed to themselves and lived in the city for a short time.
Mays traveled coast to coast between his rental home in San Francisco and his New Rochelle palace, which is estimated to be worth about $2 million today.
Willie Mays bought this home in New Rochelle in 1960 after encountering racist housing practices in San Francisco following the Giants’ move from the Big Apple to the Bay Area. (New Rochelle Public Library)
The headline in The New York Times in May 1960 about Willie Mays buying a home in a New York City suburb. (New York Times Archives)
Mays is honored in the city’s walk of fame outside the public library, along with other baseball greats like Mariano Rivera and Lou Gehrig, and cultural icons like Ruby Dee.
“New Rochelle can be proud to claim an association with part of this baseball history, as Willie Mays, the ‘Say Hey Kid,’ lived in a 15-room Normandy style mansion at 90 Croft Terrace in the early 1960s,” his plaque read.
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The plaque includes blurbs about his childhood in Alabama, stats of arguably one of the greatest players ever and, of course, a reference to “The Catch,” the iconic image of Mays running to dead center field to catch a fly ball directly over his head in the 1954 World Series.
The baseball legend’s death last week seemingly brought the nation together.
Willie Mays of the New York Giants goes back to catch the ball hit by Vic Wertz of the Cleveland Indians during the World Series on Sept. 29, 1954, at the Polo Grounds in New York. (Bruce Bennett Studios via Getty Images Studios/Getty Images)
READ: DEED OBTAINED BY FOX NEWS DIGITAL
Like Mays’ reported comment about “camouflaged” racism in San Francisco, the gorgeous home hid turbulent times in Mays’ first marriage, according to Hirsch’s biography.
About a year or two before the Mays family moved to New Rochelle, Margherite downplayed rumors of a crumbling marriage.
They went through a public separation that included allegations of Mays’ ex-wife’s lavish spending habits. Their seven-year marriage, from 1956 to 1963, ended in divorce.
Their animosity toward each other was detailed in the reporter’s biography – titled “Willie Mays. The Life. The Legend,” including instances where Mays slept at the opposite end of the home.
The Walk of Honor plaque for Willie Mays in New Rochelle, New York, walk of fame. (City of New Rochelle)
Willie Mays visits PS 46 in Harlem, next to the site of the former Polo Grounds, where the New York Giants played before moving to San Francisco in 1958, on Jan. 21, 2011 in New York City. (Michael Nagle/Getty Images)
Mays remarried to Mae Louise Allen. They were together until she died in April 2013 at the age of 74, and Margherite died at the age of 84 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, in July 2010.
As for his playing days, Mays’ career stats include 3,283 hits, 660 home runs, a career .301 batting average, 1,909 RBIs and 339 stolen bases.
He still holds the MLB record for most putouts by an outfielder with 7,095. In fact, he’s the only outfielder to record over 7,000 career putouts.
He played for the Birmingham Black Barons in the Negro Leagues from 1948-1950, the New York Giants from 1951-1957 (with a two-year gap in ‘52 and ’53, when he served in the U.S. Army), the San Francisco Giants from 1958-1972, and the New York Mets from 1972-1973.
He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, and into the New Rochelle Walk of Fame in 2014. President Barack Obama presented Mays with the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2015.
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A Boston man is facing charges after he allegedly lunged at a Burger King employee, punched a customer, and then resisted arrest at a nearby MBTA station in East Boston, authorities announced Monday afternoon.
Patrick Donovan, 59, was charged July 1 with one count of assault and battery causing injury on an over 60 or disabled person, assault and battery, disorderly conduct, resisting arrest, assault, and vandalism, Suffolk District Attorney Kevin Hayden’s office said in a press release.
The charges stem from an incident shortly before 10 p.m. on June 30, when Boston police responded to a disturbance call from Burger King at 1 Maverick Square, Hayden’s office said.
A Burger King employee told officers that, after ordering his food and receiving it, Donovan yelled that he no longer wanted it and smacked a napkin holder off the counter. He then allegedly lunged at an employee and grabbed her by the arm, prosecutors said.
Donovan subsequently shoved a customer from behind and allegedly punched him in the face three times while calling him racial slurs, the DA’s office said.
Emergency medical services evaluated the customer for “visible lacerations to the forehead,” but the victim declined additional treatment, authorities said.
Donovan fled the restaurant following the assaults, and officers tracked him to the nearby MBTA Maverick Station, prosecutors said.
“While officers tried to detain Donovan inside the station, he swung at them with a closed fist but did not make contact,” Hayden’s office said, noting that Donovan made racial slurs towards the officers. “Donovan was placed into custody after a brief struggle.”
During his arraignment in the East Boston division of the Boston Municipal Court, Donovan pleaded not guilty and was released on personal recognizance. Court records show he was also ordered to stay away from Maverick Square and Burger King.
He is scheduled to return to court Aug. 7 for a pre-trial hearing, prosecutors said.
Officers obtained security footage of both assaults. Authorities said the incident remains under investigation and could result in further charges.
“Our workers deserve to be safe in their workplaces and our consumers deserve to be safe in their shopping or dining places, without exception,” Hayden said in a statement. “Beyond that, none of our citizens or first responders should be subjected to racial slurs. These appalling words have no place in Suffolk County or anywhere else in our society.”
Attorney information for Donovan was not immediately available Monday afternoon.
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A hit HBO documentary series is looking to Connecticut for stories to feature in its second season.
The show “Neighbors” follows on-going neighbor disputes across the country. The goal of the show is to help neighbors reach a resolution, according to the show’s casting director and executive producer Harleigh Shaw.
“Each story we explore, we spend extensive time with neighbors on both sides to really understand the full context beyond the disputes,” Shaw said.
Producers wanted to share stories in the second season that were based in states that weren’t featured earlier this year in the first season, including Connecticut, Shaw said.
“A lot of the things that we’re most interested in are things that may seem small, but become a bigger issue between the neighbors,” Shaw said. “Anything from disagreements over gardening practices to property lines to noise to dock issues, if it’s a waterfront property. A whole myriad of things. We’re really open to anything.”
However, the show does avoid situations that are violent or dangerous.
Residents from Connecticut looking to participate should be open to third party conflict resolution, according to Shaw.
“Some of the ways that we did that were through mediation,” Shaw said. “That’s a huge one. But there are other things in terms of resources we’d be open to help the neighbors to like help work through the issues.”
Filming will take place throughout the summer and is expected to be completed by the end of September.
The show’s production team is located in New York City and Los Angeles.
“Connecticut has always been really interesting because it’s just a short trip away, and we’re just curious to explore the types of neighbor dynamics that are going on there,” Shaw said.
Connecticut residents who are interested in being on “Neighbors,” can apply at helloneighbortv.com and are encouraged to submit information about themselves as well as their neighbor dispute.
“The neighbor disputes are the entry point for this show, but we’re always also just very interested in inspiring amazing people doing cool stuff,” Shaw said.
“Neighbors” premiered in February and was quickly renewed. The show averages about 3 million viewers per episode.
The show features stories that make viewers laugh and cringe, according to HBO Programming’s Executive Vice President Nina Rosenstein.
“At a time when even the smallest disagreements can spiral out of control, ‘Neighbors’ feels both hilariously absurd and surprisingly relatable,” Rosenstein said. “What makes the show special isn’t just the stories and people they find, but the empathy and humanity they bring to each episode.”
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