SANTA CLARA -- Jim Harbaugh's mind was on baseball Wednesday afternoon.About 30 minutes after his formal session with the media, Harbaugh entered the 49ers' locker room from the team's lunch room. He was in a particularly good mood, as he ate a hot dog and asked at least three reporters, "Why aren't you at the (Oakland Athletics) game today?"Then, Harbaugh and several reporters spoke about batting mechanics, invoking the teachings of the late Charley Lau.
Baseball was the topic of the day because of a visitor scheduled to attend 49ers practice later in the day: Hall of Famer and sporting icon Willie Mays, generally considered the greatest living ballplayer.
Big treat for the @49ers today at practice. Honored to meet Willie MaysSFUnite twitter.comJedYorkstatus Jed York (@JedYork) October 4, 2012Two weeks ago, Harbaugh made it known that he wanted to meet the San Francisco Giants great."I don't want anything from him," Harbaugh said of Mays. "I just want to go up to him and shake his hand and tell him that me and my dad think that he's the greatest baseball player in the history of the game. That's all I want."Harbaugh got that opportunity on Wednesday. Mays arrived near the end of the 49ers' practice, a team spokesman confirmed to CSNBayArea.com. The 49ers' practices are closed to the media.Harbaugh introduced Mays to the team. Mays spoke for a few minutes and told the team he would autograph anything they wanted.Last week, football Hall of Famer Jim Brown visited the 49ers at their team hotel just outside of Youngstown, Ohio.Just met Willie Mays. Very pumped. For sure got an auto Joe Staley (@jstaley74) October 3, 2012The Great Willie Mays just told us we won't live that long. lolOh.. And he signed my thumb protector thing.lockerz.coms250024426 Bam Davis(@BamDavis76) October 3, 2012
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