Giants walk one off for Willie Mays in first game at home since passing

The baseball world lost a legend one week ago today when Willie Mays passed at the age of 93. The Say Hey Kid was one of the true giants of the game, a smiling conglomeration of speed, contact and power that left his mark on the game through almost a quarter-century of All-Star-caliber play.

Mays got his start in the Negro Leagues as a teenager with the Birmingham Black Barons, and he was honored last week, along with his Negro League brethren, in MLB at Rickwood, a special game between Mays' San Francisco Giants and the St. Louis Cardinals in Mays' home state of Alabama at America's oldest professional ballpark.

The baseball world at large got to celebrate Mays' life during that game at Rickwood, and if we can be honest, the game and the celebration around it made for a truly special night that surpassed any and all expectations. For as powerful as that game was, though, sometimes to honor a legend, you just need to get back home.

The Giants did return home last night to take on the Cubs, and they honored Mays by having the entire team wear his iconic number 24 jersey. Not content for a simple show of respect, though, the team engineered a 9th-inning comeback win befitting of the greatest player in franchise, and possibly all of baseball, history.

The Giants honored Willie Mays in the most fitting way

The Giants trailed 4-0 at one point last night, and 4-2 entering the 9th inning, but a Matt Chapman leadoff double kickstarted a rally that would have made the Say Hey Kid proud. Thairo Estrada followed Chapman with a bunt single, and after the Giants battled for a single, two walks, and two sac flies to tie the game, Wilmer Flores walked on five pitches to force in the winning run. Mays made his career on coming through in the clutch, so for the Giants to literally walk one off on the night that they collectively wore his jersey was awesome to see.

San Francisco has struggled since the news of Mays' death came out, losing five straight games to slip to fourth place in the NL West. There's no telling if the recent skid can be attributed to the franchise-wide malaise brought about by losing such an iconic player, or whether the regular ebbs and flows of a long baseball season are to blame. Either way, they made baseball magic happen at the best possible time to send the Say Hey Kid out in style.