Former Kansas City Royals star Willie Mays Aikens’ life story told in new movie

Willie Mays Aikens has reached some of the highest peaks and plummeted to the lowest valleys in his life.

Aikens played in the 1980 World Series with the Royals and hit four home runs. But in 1994, he was sentenced to 20 years, eight months in federal prison on drug, firearm and attempted bribery convictions. He served 14 years.

After his release, Aikens put his life back together and got back into baseball, working with the Royals. That part of his life is the subject of the movie, “The Royal,” which opens Friday.

“The movie is about redemption,” Aikens said. “And everything is post prison. It doesn’t tell anything about what happened to get me incarcerated or things that happened while I was incarcerated and stuff like that. It just tells the story of how I gained my freedom, restoration and after gaining my freedom, how I got in contact with George and how George turned me on to the ballpark and introduced me to Dayton Moore.

“It just goes through things in the movie like that, and I’m proud the movie shows where I’m trying to get a job.”

George is Royals Hall of Famer George Brett, who played a key role in Aikens’ life after his release from prison.

Aikens said he was in a halfway house in downtown Kansas City after his release when he was invited by Brett to speak to his son’s middle school about drugs and alcohol. Brett was impressed and told Aikens he should be back in baseball.

Brett later introduced Aikens to Royals president of baseball operations Dayton Moore. By 2011, the Royals hired Aikens as a minor-league coach.

“So basically without the friendship and the relationship that I had and still have with George Brett,” Aikens said, “I don’t even know if I would be involved with the Kansas City Royals right now. Probably not.”

When Major League Baseball restructured the minor leagues in 2020 and contracted a number of teams, Aikens took on a new job, working at the Urban Youth Academy.

Aikens, 67, is loving it.

“It gives me a chance to work in the community, work with young kids and stuff like that,” he said. “So I’m just honored and blessed to still be working in baseball, have a job and doing something like this. And with this movie coming out, it’s just gonna put more of a spotlight out there.”

Aiken’s return to baseball has been rewarding, but the movie shows some resistance from his family. The film is based on part of the book, “Safe At Home,” which Aikens says gives the full story of his life.

With the release of “The Royal,” Aikens sees an opportunity to reach people who are going through a difficult time in their lives.

“My hopes are that it will give some people encouragement that are going through some of the same things that I went through,” he said. “Gives them hope that relationships can be restored, People that are incarcerated, it doesn’t make a difference how long you’re in prison, you can even turn your life around.”