I hope Willie Mays and Stan Musial got to watch this game together.

That’s how I chose to imagine it playing out Thursday night, as the Cardinals and Giants met at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., to honor the historic Negro Leagues stadium and remember the great players who starred there in the past.

In the forever debate about naming the best all-around baseball player of all time, Mays is, at worst, tied for first. His death Tuesday, just days before this Rickwood Field showcase, created a more somber tone than expected. But Mays’ spirit, as powerful as his baseball superpowers, attempted to discourage that. Just like he did with his over-the-head catch on a Vic Wertz fly ball in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series, Mays was out in front of everyone else.

“Birmingham, I wish I could be with you all today,” wrote Mays in his remarks sent to his friend Dusty Baker before his death. “This is where I’m from. I had my first pro hit here at Rickwood as a Black Baron. And now this year, some 76 years later, that hit finally got counted in the record books. I guess some things take time. But I always think better late than never. Time changes things. Time heals wounds. And that’s a good thing.”

Instead of focusing on the cruel curveball of Mays having to miss this, I imagined Musial and Mays watching their beloved teams together instead.

They'd be wearing different hats and different championship rings. They'd be wearing the same Presidential Medal of Freedom. Mays pulling for his Giants. Musial pulling for his Cardinals. The “Pride of N.L." reunited again. That was the phrase used on the 1963 Topps baseball card that featured both first-ballot Hall of Famers gripping the same bat. The image must have caused pitching panic attacks nationwide.

“It’s a very sad day for me,” Mays said when Musial died in 2013. “I knew Stan very well. He used to take care of me at All-Star Games, 24 of them. He was a true gentleman who understood the race thing and did all he could. Again, a true gentleman on and off the field. I never heard anybody say a bad word about him, ever.”

Musial’s opinion of Mays was just as high.

“He’s a perfect ballplayer,” Musial wrote about Mays in his autobiography. “Mays can beat a ballclub with his bat, glove, arm and legs. The guy plays with a contagious enthusiasm.”

Musial had more hits (3,630 to 3,293), but Mays had more homers (660 to 475). Mays had better defense and gobs more steals (339 to 78), but Musial had more RBIs (1,951 to 1,909) and fewer strikeouts (696 to 1,526).

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