Baseball legends Willie Mays and the late Yogi Berra will be honored with the nation’s highest civilian award, the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
They are among 17 people who will be recognized by President Barack Obama at a Nov. 24 ceremony.
Honorees from the entertainment world include director and former Bay Area resident Steven Spielberg, Barbra Streisand, Stephen Sondheim, Gloria and Emilio Estefan, James Taylor and Itzhak Perlman.
Politicians include Sen. Barbara Milkulski, former Rep. Lee Hamilton and the late Shirley Chisholm, the first African-American woman elected to Congress.
Other honorees include veterans advocate Bonnie Carroll; NASA mathematician Katherine G. Johnson; and former EPA chief and deputy attorney general William Ruckelshaus, known for refusing to fire the Watergate special prosecutor. Posthumous recipients include Indian tribal advocate Billy Frank Jr. and civil rights advocate Minoru Yasui.
