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Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.
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
Playing
Sports
Defense
Keys
Baseball
Motivational
More quotes by Willie Mays
I don't know what Joe (DiMaggio) wanted (in regards to being called 'the greatest living ballplayer'), but I don't have a problem, if he wanted to do that. He was my hero. Joe was the best all-around player. Joe was the best. I only played against him once, in the '51 Series.
Willie Mays
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
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
Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business.
Willie Mays
I don't compare 'em, I just catch 'em.
Willie Mays
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
When I'm not hitting, I don't hit nobody. But, when I'm hitting, I hit anybody.
Willie Mays
I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.
Willie Mays
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
When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was.
Willie Mays
Youngsters of Little League can survive undercoaching a lot better than overcoaching.
Willie Mays
They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.
Willie Mays
I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.
Willie Mays
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
What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all.
Willie Mays
I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.
Willie Mays
The catch off Bobby Morgan (a backhanded grab of the Brooklyn Dodger's line drive in September 1951 at Ebbets Field) in Brooklyn was the best catch I ever made. Jackie Robinson and (Giants manager) Leo Durocher were the first people I saw when I opened my eyes
Willie Mays
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.
Willie Mays
I don't rate them, I just hit them.
Willie Mays
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.
Willie Mays