Happy Saturday!

It’s a story of redemption.

Willie Mays Aikens.

With a name like that, you gotta be destined for greatness. Right?

And he was.

But along the way there was trouble.

Drugs. A trial. More than 20 years in prison.

But that’s not where Willie’s story ends.

There’s a comeback.

And the magic of a second chance.

Willie Mays Aikens was drafted by the California Angels in 1975.

A power-hitting prospect with some pop in the bat.

Growing up in Anaheim, I remember all the buzz about the guy with the cool name.

The “can’t-miss” kid.

In 1979, he hit 21 home runs, helping lead the Angels to their first-ever division title.

But after the season, Aikens was traded to the Kansas City Royals.

In his first season, the Royals reached the World Series.

And Aikens put on quite the show, belting four home runs.

The Royals lost to the Philadelphia Phillies in six games.

Watch Willie Mays Aikens homer in the 1980 World Series

Even so.

Willie Mays Aikens had arrived.

A bright future ahead.

But there was something nobody knew.

Aikens was doing cocaine.

He later said he snorted cocaine before every game of the World Series.

Willie Mays Aikens in his own words

In 1983, Aikens and three Royals teammates were caught up in a federal cocaine investigation.

Aikens pleaded guilty to attempted cocaine possession.

He was sentenced to three months in prison and suspended from baseball for a year.

During his suspension, the Royals traded him to the Toronto Blue Jays.

He was reinstated by baseball in May 1984.

But Aikens, who had terrorized pitchers just a few years earlier, was no longer the same player.

A year later, he was released.

His career in Major League Baseball was over.

And in 1985, the Royals—the team he’d helped lead to the World Series five years earlier—won it all.

Without Willie.

But Aikens wasn’t finished with baseball.

He headed to Mexico, where in 1986 he hit .454.

Aikens would play several more seasons there.

But his problems with drugs weren’t over.

In 1994, Aikens was arrested after selling crack cocaine to an undercover officer.

Two ounces of crack.

The consequences were enormous.

Aikens was convicted of crack cocaine distribution, attempted bribery and firearms charges.

He was sentenced to 20 years and eight months in federal prison.

For Willie Mays Aikens, the fall from grace was complete.

The can’t-miss prospect.

The World Series slugger.

Now he was headed to prison.

20 years and eight months.

Let that sink in.

Prison could have been the end for the former Royals star.

But sitting inside a 6×9 cell, Aikens knew his life had to change.

So.

He got clean and sober.

He began to rebuild his relationship with his daughters.

And he returned to his Christian faith.

Then came the break.

In 2008, revised federal sentencing guidelines made him eligible for early release.

After nearly 14 years in prison, Willie Mays Aikens walked out a free man.

He was at 53.

More than a decade behind bars.

Now what?

Baseball had once been his life.

Was there any chance of getting back in the game?

Who would hire a convicted felon?

Then came George Brett.

Yes, George Brett.

Hall of Famer. Former Royals teammate. Vice President of Baseball Operations.

The two reconnected after Aikens’ release.

Brett invited Willie to speak at his son’s school about drugs and alcohol.

Impressed by what he heard, Brett introduced Aikens to Royals executive Dayton Moore.

In 2011, the Royals hired Aikens as a minor-league coach.

A second chance.

Back in uniform.

Aikens would spend nine years coaching the next generation of Royals.

Today, he’s in the team’s front office, working as a Special Assistant to Baseball Operations/Player & Staff Engagement.

The same organization he once embarrassed.

The same organization that traded him away.

The same organization that brought him back.

And it gets better.

In 1981, Aikens’ 1980 American League championship ring was stolen.

Thirty-three years later, a friend tracked it down in a Kansas City pawn shop.

On Christmas Eve 2014, Willie got his ring back.

A year later, the Royals beat the New York Mets to win the World Series.

Aikens received another ring.

Not bad!

His story became a book, Willie Mays Aikens: Safe at Home.

And later, a movie, The Royal.

Watch a clip from The Royal here.

But Willie’s second chance wasn’t just about getting back into baseball.

He slowly rebuilt his relationships with his daughters.

Sara, who later became his wife, had stood by him through his years in prison.

Then, in 2011, Sara suffered a stroke that left her partially paralyzed.

Now it was Willie’s turn to stand by her.

Aikens continues to speak to groups about drug abuse and the choices that nearly destroyed his life.

For Willie, telling his story is part of staying on the right path.

Making the most of that second chance.