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I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.

Willie Mays

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Willie Mays
Age: 93
Born: 1931
Born: May 6
Baseball Player
Jefferson County
Alabama
Willie Howard Mays Jr.
Willie Howard Mays
The Say Hey Kid
Majors
Knew
Came
Play
Good
Things
Think
Thinking
Programmed

More quotes by Willie Mays

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They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.
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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.
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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
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I didn't teach you that. Catch the ball with your glove.
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I don't compare 'em, I just catch 'em.
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Youngsters of Little League can survive undercoaching a lot better than overcoaching.
Willie Mays
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Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.
Willie Mays
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That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit.
Willie Mays
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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.
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In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated.
Willie Mays
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It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day.
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Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.
Willie Mays
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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.
Willie Mays
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What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all.
Willie Mays
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I remember the last season I played. I went home after a ballgame one day, lay down on my bed, and tears came to my eyes. How can you explain that? It's like crying for your mother after she's gone. You cry because you love her. I cried, I guess, because I loved baseball, and I knew I had to leave it.
Willie Mays
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Never assume the other guy will never do something you would never do.
Willie Mays
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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.
Willie Mays
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Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business.
Willie Mays
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When I'm not hitting, I don't hit nobody. But, when I'm hitting, I hit anybody.
Willie Mays
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When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was.
Willie Mays