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I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.
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
Barons
Birmingham
Played
Days
Making
Black
Money
More quotes by Willie Mays
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
Willie Mays
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.
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
When I was in Birmingham I used to go to a place called Redwood Field. I used to get there for a two o'clock game. Where can you make this kind of money playing sports? It was just a pleasure to go out and enjoy myself and get paid for it.
Willie Mays
Never assume the other guy will never do something you would never do.
Willie Mays
Defense to me is the key to playing 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
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
What's tough is being good every day.
Willie Mays
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
Yes, I had to learn how to live life outside, but I had so many people help me.
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
Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.
Willie Mays
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
I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.
Willie Mays
Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business.
Willie Mays
Congratulations to Alex Rodriguez on his 660th home run, milestones in baseball are meant to be broken and I wish him continued success throughout his career.
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
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
Willie Mays
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