In 2021, Joe Posnanski, released the contents for his book, The Baseball 100, via a daily email. One at a time.

It was a riveting must read. If you love baseball, you should buy it. No one writes about baseball like Joe Posnanski (or sports for that matter). The book is his countdown of who he thinks are the greatest 100 baseball players of all-time. He ended with Willie Mays as #1 – who can argue with that?

I was inspired to create this type illustration in honor of the Say Hey Kid, circa August 2021 after polishing off Posnanski's last email. I updated the art, and reposted it today. RIP Willie Mays.

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"Isn’t Willie Mays wonderful? That’s a movie title. Yes, today the sky is a little less bright, and the music sounds a little bluer and the stars seem farther away because Willie Mays, at age 93, died on Tuesday. He died just two days before Major League Baseball comes to Birmingham, Alabama, to play a game at Rickwood Field in his honor. It’s a hard thing to imagine. The greatest living player is no longer living. Willie Mays is gone.

Only, of course, he isn’t gone. Willie Mays will never be gone."

Joe Posnanski