Get ready to be hyped about arguably the greatest to ever play the game. Say Hey, Willie Mays! is hitting HBO and HBO Max on November 8th, and the trailer for the Nelson George-directed documentary is like a loud roar from the past. The enthusiasm here is infectious.
According to the press release, the film features interviews with “Willie Mays, his godson Barry Bonds, and son Michael Mays. Additional interviews include Hall of Famers Reggie Jackson, Orlando Cepeda and Juan Marichal, alongside the late baseball legend Vin Scully, Hall of Fame Broadcasters Jon Miller and Bob Costas, and Mays’ biographer John Shea.”
Frankly, this should be the standard in documentary creation: speaking directly with important subjects while they’re still here to help tell their own stories. The trailer leans quite a bit on the baseball side of things, cheering on The Catch and Mays’ abject domination while weaving in his importance as a civil rights figure who thrilled a city who did not want him to live in their neighborhood because of his skin color.
George was a great choice for the director’s chair, too, as a cultural scholar and the director of the Misty Copeland doc A Ballerina’s Tale. Say Hey, Willie Mays! looks sleek and powerful — the perfect tone to match its iconic subject.