updated 3:03 p.m. ET April 23, 2005

HAGERSTOWN, Md. - The mayor has struck out in his bid to rename a city street for baseball great Willie Mays.

Mayor William M. Breichner had hoped to make up for the poor treatment Mays received in the early 1950s when he made his minor league debut here to catcalls and racial jeers. However, his plans to rename Memorial Boulevard ran afoul of war veterans.

The backlash prompted Breichner and the city council last week to drop plans for renaming the street Willie Mays Way.

The rejection comes eight months after Mays returned to the western Maryland city. At the Aug. 9 event, Breichner publicly apologized to the Hall of Famer and promised to name a street in his honor. But after Breichner formally tried last month to make good on his pledge, scores of war veterans protested.

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