Ramos honors Mays with memorable home run at Rickwood Field originally appeared in NBC Sports Bay Area
BIRMINGHAM, Alabama — When Giants coach Bob Melvin showed up at Candlestick Park in 1986, he discovered his locker was right next to one reserved for Willie Mays, who was never shy about giving advice or reliving his playing days. One day, Melvin asked Mays how he hit so many home runs at Candlestick when the wind was blowing so often from left field. Mays stood up and showed how he would adjust his swing.
“When the wind blew from the left, I hit to the right,” he told Melvin.
As San Francisco prepared to honor Mays with a game at Rickwood Field, Melvin told this story to his players. This made his only major offensive outburst of a 6-5 defeat for the St. Louis Cardinals stand out.
The Giants fell behind early but tied it in the third when Heliot Ramos hit a three-run homer to right. It was certainly noticed in the dugout that in a stadium where Mays played as a teenager, the Giants center fielder took advantage of the elements and hit a home run to right field.
“Ramos took it seriously and did it today,” right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “I think it was Willie speaking through him.”
The outburst was the tenth of the year for Ramos, who is the first Giant to reach double figures, although he only made his season debut on May 8. this led to Melvin running out of superlatives. On Thursday, two days after San Francisco received the news that Mays had passed away at 93 years old, Melvin couldn’t help but think of one of his childhood idols while watching Ramos.
“Whenever you play center for the San Francisco Giants, you think of Willie Mays, and that’s the kind of thing he does,” Melvin said of Ramos. “We’re down three and all of a sudden we’re tied with one swing of the bat. He’s been doing this for a while.”
Many of Ramos’s homers were no doubt, but when the breaking ball left his bat on Thursday, he thought it was just a flyout to right. Ramos showed he had the kind of strength that allows balls to keep carrying and carrying, and on a clear 90-degree night in Birmingham, Rickwood Field seemed to play a little small.
“I saw it and thought at least I put runners on second and third and we’ll have a chance to score,” Ramos said. “The ball came out and I thought, ‘I’ll take that, for sure.’”
The home run gave the Giants a fresh start, but they were unable to capitalize. Too often recently has it been Ramos-or-Bust, and that was the case against the Cardinals. They scored just one run after loading the bases in the sixth and left two in the ninth.
But their hottest player left with a memory that will last a lifetime and he said he got goosebumps as he absorbed the story at Rickwood Field.
“It was a super special day,” said Ramos. “I wish we would win the game, but it is what it is.”
