Quote

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.

Willie Mays

Change background

T
T
T

Change font

TAGS & TOPICS

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
Defense
Keys
Baseball
Motivational
Playing
Sports

More quotes by Willie Mays

Image
It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day.
Willie Mays
Image
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.
Willie Mays
Image
I'm not the type of guy to go out and just say, 'Hey, I'm raising my fist to do this and do that.' I don't think I'm that type of guy. I wasn't a leader the way other people may have wanted me to be.
Willie Mays
Image
What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all.
Willie Mays
Image
Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson.
Willie Mays
Image
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
Willie Mays
Image
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.
Willie Mays
Image
What's tough is being good every day.
Willie Mays
Image
Youngsters of Little League can survive undercoaching a lot better than overcoaching.
Willie Mays
Image
I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.
Willie Mays
Image
They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.
Willie Mays
Image
I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.
Willie Mays
Image
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.
Willie Mays
Image
Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.
Willie Mays
Image
When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was.
Willie Mays
Image
The greatest challenge I think is adjusting to not playing baseball. The reason for that is I had to come out of baseball and come into the business world, not being a college graduate, not being educated to come into the business world the way I should have.
Willie Mays
Image
In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated.
Willie Mays
Image
I don't rate them, I just hit them.
Willie Mays
Image
When I'm not hitting, I don't hit nobody. But, when I'm hitting, I hit anybody.
Willie Mays
Image
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