Press Kit

“Life is like a double play; you never know which way the ball is gonna hop.”

For young James, the summer of 1951 was supposed to be about nothing more than playing stickball with his pals and listening to Giants baseball on the radio. That was before he met the man they came to call "The Say Hey Kid."

Willie Mays is emerging on the national sports scene, a whirlwind of joy in a Giants uniform. To the world, he will become a future icon. To James, he is the man who lives in his Harlem boarding house, shares a cherry Coke and ice cream with, and teaches him that catching a fly ball is exactly like catching a dream: you have to keep running until your feet leave the ground.

As James is swept up in the magic of miracle seasons—from "The Shot" to "The Catch"—he begins to see the world through Willie’s eyes. Through Civil Rights tensions and the roar of the crowd, James learns that while talent might be a gift, character is something you build one inning at a time. 

Like Forrest Gump, 14 Going On 24: Growing Up With Willie Mays is a heartwarming journey through a golden age of history, proving that sometimes the greatest lessons aren’t learned in a classroom, but in the grass of centerfield.