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“Some kids didn’t know him, but I heard about Willie Mays before from my male relatives,” says 8th-grader Rudy Hernandez. “He was the best baseball player anybody ever did see!”

Even more unbelievable to the students is that their school building sits atop the old Polo Grounds, where long ago the 83-year-old Hall of Famer played baseball. Mays had visited the school a few years back. This time, he was scheduled to go to another New York City school. But the Say Hey Kid said no. This school had captured his heart and Harlem felt like home.

Special education teacher Andre Lawrence wished his father, a huge fan of Mays, was alive to see his hero.

“Here was the living legend Willie Mays, world famous, walking on his own two feet without a cane and talking with our kids, making them feel important,” says Lawrence, 40. “It was a sight to see!”

For nearly two hours, Mays and current San Francisco Giants infielder Joe Panik answered questions from students and former big leaguer and current MLB Network TV host Harold Reynolds, told stories and savored the sounds of the chorus and band serenading him with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” and the old jazz tune “Say Hey (The Willie Mays Song).”

“He told our principal he was so touched he cried,” says health and physical education teacher Patty Griesi. “He deserved the tribute our kids gave him. The band was fantastic.”

For those sweet sounds, kudos go to Mays: Following his first visit, he sent a thank-you note with a check big enough to buy trumpets, flutes, clarinets and all manner of horns for the band. The instruments were needed desperately, but decidedly out of reach for the Title I school.

This time, the All-Star gave the kids signed baseballs. “I already bought a case for mine and I put it on my dresser,” says Rudy, 14. “It’s protected, and I can look at it.”

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Miller Photography