CHICAGO -- The patch added to the Giants¡¯ uniforms for Wednesday afternoon¡¯s series finale against the Cubs was fittingly located over the left side of the chest. It bore resemblance to the back of a jersey, reading ¡°MAYS 24.¡±

The Giants kept Mays close to their hearts on Wednesday, following Tuesday¡¯s news that the Hall of Famer and Giants icon had passed away at the age of 93.

¡°I think after last night, [the emotions are] actually even heavier today,¡± manager Bob Melvin said before San Francisco¡¯s 6-5 loss to Chicago at Wrigley Field. ¡°When you read all the articles and you read what everybody has to say about him, it kind of comes full circle in what he's meant to our country.

¡°Even if you don't know baseball, you know who Willie Mays is.¡±

The Giants are headed to Birmingham, Ala., where they will play the Cardinals on Thursday at historic Rickwood Field -- the site of the final Negro Leagues World Series in 1948 and Mays¡¯ home ballpark while playing for the Birmingham Black Barons that same season.

As much as the baseball world was already slated to celebrate and pay tribute to Mays and other icons, the day will now carry a greater weight with his passing.

¡°It¡¯ll be an emotional game for the organization,¡± outfielder Austin Slater said. ¡°It will be a chance for everyone there to honor him and his legacy and the hurdles that he had to jump and, obviously, the legacy that he left on the game.¡±

And that legacy spans generations. There is a 23-year gap between Melvin¡¯s last season in the Major Leagues (1994) and Slater¡¯s first (2017), but they share a common link in Mays, whose own playing career ended in ¡®73.

Mays rejoined the Giants organization in 1986 as a special assistant to the president. That was Melvin¡¯s first season as a player with San Francisco, and he went to the Hall of Famer, whose locker was not far away, for advice.

¡°I remember one time I asked [Mays] -- with the wind blowing in at Candlestick [Park], he hit 660 homers -- ¡®How'd you hit all those homers when it's blowing in from left?¡¯¡± Melvin said. ¡°And he just looked at me and goes, ¡®Well, when it blows in from left, I hit them out the right.¡¯ And he just did this perfect swing, this inside-out swing that was just so natural.¡±

Slater, who was drafted by San Francisco in 2014 and made his Major League debut in ¡®17, is the longest-tenured active Giants player. He recalled the stories and advice that legends such as Mays, Willie McCovey, Gaylord Perry and Juan Marichal would share with players during Spring Training.

¡°In my first big league camp, I remember all the young guys would sit around,¡± Slater said. ¡°Willie would come into the clubhouse and sit at your table, and young guys would go up. He¡¯d spend 30 minutes with every young guy. He was very generous with his time and just a wealth of knowledge on the baseball field. It was great to have that kind of experience.¡±

Mays¡¯ name also resonates greatly with Heliot Ramos, a first-round pick in the 2017 MLB Draft who is having a breakout season. When Melvin put him in center field earlier this season, the skipper told Ramos -- who only played 136 1/3 innings there in 2023, with just 13 of those being in the Majors -- he got to be Willie Mays for the day.

It was a playful message to encourage Ramos as he got ready to play, and it seemed to do the trick.

¡°He was just trying to cheer me up and get me ready for the game because I hadn¡¯t played center in so long,¡± Ramos said. ¡°He gave me a lot of confidence that he actually said that.¡±

¡°[Heliot] came up in our organization,¡± Melvin said. ¡°So when I said that to him, that just lit him up. Everybody wants to be Willie Mays. He¡¯s inspired so many baseball careers, especially in the Bay Area.¡±

And that¡¯s part of Mays¡¯ indelible legacy, which extends in and out of baseball and will be celebrated on Thursday at Rickwood Field and going forward.

¡°I feel like he helped set standards for the next generations,¡± Ramos said. ¡°Right now, everybody wants to be like him. Everybody wants to have the same numbers. It¡¯s like Derek Jeter, for example. Derek Jeter, he's one of the greats. Everybody wants to be a shortstop because of him.

¡°I feel like it¡¯s the same, but Willie is just Willie. There was nobody like him.¡±