Article:Players from the Past: Willie Mays Aikens

Willie Mays Aikens

Born: October 14, 1954 in Seneca, South Carolina Height: 6'3" Weight: 220 Bats: Left Throws: Right First Game: May 17, 1977 Final Game: April 27, 1985 Career: California Angels (1977, 1979), Kansas City Royals (1980-1983), Toronto Blue Jays (1984-85)



Willie Mays Aikens was selected as the second overall pick in the 1975 Amateur Draft by the California Angels. Aikens made the majors as a regular with the Angels in 1979, and after a .280/21/81 season, was traded to the Kansas City Royals. Fortune smiled at Aikens, as the Royals reached the World Series, losing to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. Aikens was a productive player on some good Royals teams, reaching 20 homers twice and 70 RBI three times, and achieving his career high batting average (.302) in 1983.

In the 1980 World Series, Aikens became the first, and only, player to have two or more multiple homer games in the same Fall Classic. In Game One, Aikens hit a pair of two run homers off Phillies starter Bob Walk. In Game Four, Aikens hit a two run homer and a solo shot off Dickie Noles. For the Series, Aikens hit .400 (8-20) with the four homers and 8 RBI.

In 1983, Aikens was arrested, along with fellow Royals players Willie Wilson, Jerry Martin and Vida Blue, and charged with drug possession. Aikens pleaded guilty to the charge, traded to Toronto, and soon found himself out of baseball. Aikens migrated to Mexico, where he flourished in the Mexican League.

In March 1994, Aikens was again arrested, this time at his Kansas City home, and charged with selling crack cocaine to an undercover police officer. He was indicted and subsequently convicted on five charges, ranging from the possession/selling of crack, to carrying an unlicensed handgun. The judge, under the law at the time, which considered "crack" cocaine to be more dangerous than "powdered" cocaine, sentenced Aikens to 20 years in prison.



In February of this year, Congress overthrew the law on which Aikens was convicted, determining crack to be no more dangerous or addicting than powdered cocaine, or its users being more violent. Congress also retroactively pushed the amendment back several years, making almost 20,000 people sentenced under the law immediately eligible for immediately release.

This past Tuesday, June 3, Willie Mays Aikens was released from a state correctional facility in Jessup, Georgia, after serving 14 years of his sentence. Aikens will return to Kansas City, where he will stay initially in a state owned halfway house, a rehab center of sorts where Aikens will receive assistance in adjusting to civilian life.



Aikens, who lost almost 80 pounds during his incarceration and now claims to weigh less than he did when he played, plans on a return to baseball once his stay is complete. He also plans on reconnecting to his wife and two daughters, who remained in Mexico where they lived while he played there following his ML career.

source

source

photo source