Giants broadcaster Dave Flemming had the unenviable job of relaying to fans listening on KNBR on Tuesday night the news of Willie Mays' death.
The emotion and devastation was evident in Flemming's voice as he announced that Mays had passed away at the age of 93.
On Thursday, ahead of the Giants' game against the St. Louis Cardinals at Rickwood Field in Birmingham, Ala., near May's hometown, Flemming opened up about that moment during an interview with NBC Sports Bay Area's Alex Pavlovic and Laura Britt.
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"We did hear, [Giants president and CEO] Larry Baer was there and he told us before the game started," Flemming told Pavlovic and Britt. "So that was like an hour before we released the news. So I kind of figured, well, there's the gut punch and you have your sort of emotional moment then. I thought, OK, that gives me some time for when everybody's organized, the family is cool that we say [something]. And then we got the text. OK, now we can say it.
"We came back from the commercial break and I think the first thing I said is 'You're going got have to forgive me' because I knew I was sort of teetering. And then I spent the entire inning, I literally physically could not say the words. I've never had that happen and I wasn't fake. It wasn't like I wasn't trying to play up the drama. My brain knew what I wanted to do and [the words] just wouldn't come out. I could not say it."
Three pitches into Logan Webb's seven-pitch fourth inning, Flemming asked fans to forgive him for what he was about to say. A minute went by before he said "I'm having a hard time saying the words."
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Another 15 seconds passed before Flemming finally was able to begin to tell Giants fans the tragic news, but it happened as Cubs outfielder Pete Crow-Armstrong grounded out to end the inning. So as the NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast went to commercial break, Flemming continued with his announcement on the radio.
Flemming joked with Pavlovic and Britt that he gave Webb a hard time for how quickly he got through the Cubs' lineup in the fourth inning.
"So finally I went up to Logan [Webb] today," Flemming said. "I'm like, 'Dude, you had like a six pitch inning, you didn't give me any time to compose myself.' And so the final out gets recorded and I already said, all right, I'm going to say it now. I have to, I told people we have some sad news to report. So I thought maybe the pressure of where the ending ended and I just said it and I just lost it."
Flemming, who had become close friends with Mays over the years, made it clear his words Tuesday night came from the heart.
"Look, it was genuine," Flemming said. "[He] was 93 years old, he was sick. It's not like it was a shock to all of us. We knew it was gonna be sometime and probably sometime pretty soon.
"He meant so much to so many people. You kind of hate to have to be the person to tell that news to everybody else and maybe that's what it was. Now I'm really sad that he's gone. I'm gonna miss him like crazy. But now I've got a smile on him because when you, when you talk about Willie, you should smile. I loved it but in that moment, I just, I've never had that happen."
Flemming was universally praised for how he handled a moment that is nearly impossible to prepare for.
Hopefully for Flemming and other Giants broadcasters, it will be a long time before they're ever put in a situation like that again.
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