Let's Get a Kellogg's Card of Willie Mays Hayes and Willie Mays Johnson?

Sometime after Willie Mays Aikens and before Willie Mays Hayes I worked with someone named Willie Johnson.  I think that was his last name.  He was a big guy, probably at least 6-foot-3.  He supposedly was a 16-inch softball legend around the Northside of Chicago.  I don't doubt it all as he was one of the strongest people I'd met up to that point.

Mr. Johnson, probably a kid during WWII, and my boss (Joe Burton) would supervise me during my summer employment during two hot Chicago summers.  While watching the Cubs together my boss would tell the legendary tales of Willie Johnson.  

Johnson was a power hitter of course.  In his early 60s (maybe?) he probably weighed in at at least 250 pounds so that wasn't a surprise.  He worked in construction and when he shook the hand of a skinny runner like me I just tried not to get injured.  What was a surprise was that the stories also told of his gazelle-like efforts in the outfield.  

My next move could have gotten me into lots of trouble, but instead it kind of endeared me to the authority figures.  We all got along well so I started calling him Willie Mays Johnson.  Lucky for me that both Mr. Johnson and Mr. Burton enjoyed everything baseball so they saw that as a good thing to be compared to Willie Mays.  

I rarely ever think about my two summers working at the college I attended.  I've mentioned watching the games but not much about my bosses.  I wish I could have been an adult when I worked with these two guys because I bet we'd have had a lot of good conversations.  I probably wasn't ready for that as a college student but we sure were able to bond with the day baseball on WGN.  

Thanks to Mr. Johnson and Mr. Burton for some great memories.  I wonder if there will ever been another player tagged with Willie Mays as part of his name.