BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (WIAT) — Willie Mays was just 16 years old when he went to play for the Birmingham Black Barons, beginning what would be a star-making turn as one of baseball’s most iconic players.

However, there was a time when there was only one thing holding the Fairfield, Alabama native back: school.

In his 1988 book, “Say Hey: The Autobiography of Willie Mays,” the famed baseball player, who died Tuesday at the age of 93, wrote about how he first got his chance to play for the Barons through his relationship with Piper Davis, the Black Barons’ manager who had played ball with his father. Before coming to the Barons, Mays had done double duty, playing high school baseball at Fairfield Industrial High School while also periodically playing for the Montgomery Gray Sox, albeit secretly.

“The money was good,” Mays wrote. “While everyone else at Fairfield High was making eight or 10 dollars a week with part-time jobs, I was making about a hundred dollars a month.”

Mays recalled how Davis, who had warned him about threatening his high school athletic eligibility by getting paid by a professional team, then said if he wanted to make good money, he should have his father call him to talk about Mays joining the Barons. By 1948, Mays had joined the team.

In his first season with the Barons, Mays was already making an impression, being named Rookie of the Year by the Negro Leagues, but there was only so much he could do as a high school student. Davis made sure Mays only played home games, only traveling with the team when school was out. However, this did not sit well with Mays’ school, or its principal, E.T. Oliver.

“I was not permitted to play any high-school athletics while I was getting paid by the Barons,” Mays wrote. “The kids at the school felt I had sold them out. I guess maybe I had. But look at the chance I had been given – to play baseball, and to get paid for doing it.”

In fact, Oliver threatened to suspend Mays from school because of his growing commitment to the Barons, but he was talked out of it.

“He was sure that my ballplaying would keep me out of the classroom. But Piper and my father assured him that I wouldn’t miss any days of school by playing baseball. And I didn’t, either.”

Later on, Mays revealed how he would use a lot of what he learned on the diamond back at school.

“I’d take a week and go on the road with these guys, and when I came back, I’d teach the class,” Mays told co-author John Shea in his book “24: Life Stories and Lessons from the Say Hey Kid.” “When I say teach the class, I’d explain what I did, what I saw in the different cities, and everyone had to write a paper based on what I told them. My last report card when I got out of high school was all As and Bs, and I don’t know how I got that. I guess the teachers were okay with me.”

On May 24, 1950, Mays had graduated from Fairfield. By the next night, he was back on the road with the Barons, beating the Houston Eagles 8-3. Within a few weeks, Mays was drafted to the New York Giants.

Mays died just days before his San Francisco Giants would take on the St. Louis Cardinals Thursday at Rickwood Field, home of the Barons. In

San Francisco, crowds gathered before the first pitch to pay tribute to Mays at Oracle Park, where the game will be televised on the scoreboard, along with images of the legendary “Say Hey Kid.” A “24” sculpture in honor of Mays’ jersey number will also be unveiled in centerfield.