Willie Mays Quotes
A former American baseball player.
(1931 - )
|
|
|
|
And my father didn't have money for me to go to college. And at that particular time they didn't have black quarterbacks, and I don't think I could have made it in basketball, because I was only 5' 11". So I just picked baseball.
|
|
|
|
At ten I was playing against 18-year-old guys. At 15 I was playing professional ball with the Birmingham Black Barons, so I really came very quickly in all sports.
|
|
|
|
Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what is most truly is is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.
[Baseball]
|
|
|
|
Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.
[Baseball]
|
|
|
|
Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson.
|
|
|
|
I always enjoyed playing ball, and it didn't matter to me whether I played with white kids or black. I never understood why an issue was made of who I played with, and I never felt comfortable, when I grew up, telling other people how to act.
|
|
|
|
I didn't say I was that smart, I said I went to class and I enjoyed what I was doing.
|
|
|
|
I don't compare 'em, I just catch 'em.
|
|
|
|
I don't mean to be bashful, but I was.
|
|
|
|
I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.
|
|
|
|
I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.
|
|
|
|
I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.
[Baseball]
|
|
|
|
I was a baseball player, I taught baseball, and all of a sudden I was in the business world. Now I used the baseball world to talk about their product. Not too much, just enough to keep going. Just be yourself and you'll never have a problem. That's what I did.
|
|
|
|
I was very blessed with a good body. Never got hurt. Never was in the hospital. The only time I was in the hospital was when I would get exhausted a little bit, and go in for a check-up or something.
[Blessed]
|
|
|
|
I was very fortunate to play sports. All the anger in me went out. I had to do what I had to do. If you stay angry all the time, then you really don't have a good life.
|
|
|
|
I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.
|
|
|
|
I'm a very lucky guy. I had so many people help me over the years that I never had many problems. If I had a problem, I could sit down with someone and they would explain the problem to me, and the problem become like a baseball game.
|
|
|
|
If you can do that - if you run, hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game - then you're a good ballplayer.
|
|
|
|
In 1950, when the Giants signed me, they gave me $15,000. I bought a 1950 Mercury. I couldn't drive, but I had it in the parking lot there, and everybody that could drive would drive the car. So it was like a community thing.
|
|
|
|
In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept constructive criticism. Without one-hundred percent dedication, you won't be able to do this.
[Dedication]
|
|
|
|
|