Quotes From Other MLB Players:
1. “They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it.”
2. “When I’m not hitting, I don’t hit nobody. But, when I’m hitting, I hit anybody.”
3. “I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.”
4. “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.”
5. “I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.”
6. “I didn’t say I was that smart, I said I went to class and I enjoyed what I was doing.”
7. “I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.”
8. “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.”
9. “Oh, it was difficult. Very difficult. I’ll say that to this day,. You know, a lot of people said when I was forty, I should quit, but I don’t think so. You should play as long as you can and as long as you enjoy the game. In ’73, I wasn’t enjoying the game, so I quit in May, I retired, and they wouldn’t let me retire. So I finished up in the World Series. But I say to players: Play as long as you can, because you only have one chance.”
10. “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.”
11. “Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what it most truly is, is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.”
12. “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.”
13. “I don’t mean to be bashful, but I was.”
14. “Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson.”
15. “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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See how Willie Mays compares statistically with other greats of all-time.