The - Say hey kid - And the - Basket catch

people assumed willie would go around saying say hey say hey %uh in fact willie never used that phrase when willie was a rookie he had this kind of verbal tic which he which he developed in the south where in the south you didn't say hello so much as you would say hey and so willie would go around saying hey a lot willie was also terrible with names so he would always say instead of addressing someone by his or her name he would just say hey you or hey how you doing so a sports writer at the time called him the say hey kid literally he did say hey and he was a kid and it was really the perfect nickname for him not just because it was pithy and catchy but it captured willie's personality willie %um particularly when he was young was this very exuberant outgoing you know smiling kid and the say hey kid just captured that kind of enthusiasm and it stuck with him not just for his entire career but to this day he's introduced in front of audiences he will still be introduced as the say hey kid how did he come to use the basket catch it was something that he learned when he was in the army actually he played with the baseball team with with his fort and one of the guys who was on his team showed him how to catch the ball in that fashion willie loved it in part because he thought it may give him a slight edge and be able to %uh get to the ball more quickly when had to throw it when he was trying to throw a runner out when he was tagging up but the real reason willie loved the basket catch was that willie was a showman first and foremost he thought his job was to entertain the fans and the basket catch was different than the way everyone else caught it at first when you we saw him do it you might think he was going to drop it because everyone caught the ball conventionally up here now it was down here and the fans would gasp thinking that he was going to drop it but it was just a way for willie to put his own stylistic imprimatur on the way he played the game particularly the way he played the outfield the way he ran the way he threw the way he caught he wanted to be distinctive he wanted to be like a jazz musician who would create his own unique riffs that would stand him apart from the masses