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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

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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
Father
Inspirational
Quarterback
Money
Picked
Didn
Basketball
Made
Baseball
Time
College
Think
Particular
Thinking
Black

More quotes by Willie Mays

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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
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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
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Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.
Willie Mays
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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
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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
Willie Mays
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I didn't teach you that. Catch the ball with your glove.
Willie Mays
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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
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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
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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 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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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
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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.
Willie Mays
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I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.
Willie Mays
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Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson.
Willie Mays
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Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business.
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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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
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They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.
Willie Mays
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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
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In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated.
Willie Mays