Willie Mays Aikens is a former Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball

Major League Baseball is the highest level of professional baseball in the United States and Canada, consisting of teams that play in the National League and the American League...

 first baseman

First baseman

First base, or 1B, is the first of four stations on a baseball diamond which must be touched in succession by a baserunner in order to score a run for that player's team...

. He had established himself as one of the top sluggers in the game before drugs derailed his career. In , Aikens was sentenced to twenty years in prison on four counts of crack cocaine

Crack cocaine

Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...

 distribution and one count of use of a firearm during drug trafficking. He was released on June 4, after changes in federal drug laws, and is sometimes cited as an example of the results of mandatory minimum sentencing in drug-related crimes.
Aikens grew up in poverty in the Bruce Hill community of Seneca, South Carolina

Seneca, South Carolina

Seneca is a city in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Seneca Micropolitan Statistical Area Seneca is a city in Oconee County, South Carolina, United States. The population was 7,652 at the 2000 census. It is...

.