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Willie Mays
20 quotes
“Mays said he thought maybe the Skinner catch was a bit better than yesterday's, as well as a catch he made on a ball hit this season by Gus Bell of the Cincinnati Reds. "But I don't want to compare 'em," said Willie. "I'm just a ballplayer, not a sports writer. I don't compare 'em; I just catch 'em.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1954 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Reluctantly comparing his famous catch in Game 1 of the 1954 World Series to a pair of catches made during that season on May 26 and June 6, respectively (the latter "circus catch" made not against Bell, as per Mays' re…
“Gee, I've been asked hundreds of questions about that catch in the first game of the World Series. The one that Vic Wertz hit for Cleveland. Was it my best catch? How did I play it? Honestly, I don't rate 'em—I just try to catch 'em. When he hit the ball, I just started toward the place it was heading. And I got there.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1955 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: In "Willie 'Just Knows' His Job" by Mays, in The Daily Mail (March 25, 1955), p. 16
“Any time I'm not playing, I watch the game at home on television. That way I can relax and if I decide to make a catch off my playroom wall, nobody is the wiser.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1960 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Regarding his decision not to attend Game 1 of the 1960 World Series, despite having been in Pittsburgh the previous day for a TV appearance; as quoted in "Change of Pace" by Bill Nunn, Jr., in The Pittsburgh Courier (O…
“Aw-Kay Vaughan?! Aw-kay Vaughan?! Oh my God, Ralph, please ... I've hit 600 and some home runs. Don't be givin' me no Aw-kay Vaughan, please!”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1972 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking with on , circa 1972 or 1973, after having had his replayed home run swing commended by the host and likened to that of the late ; as quoted in "Gene Therapy" by Gene Collier, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Ap…
“You're not from New York, are you? You can't be from New York. Well, when I broke in, I didn't know many people by name so I would just say, "Say, hey," and the writers picked that up. The writers here in New York can make anything happen, so they made that happen.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Sports of the Times: The Most Natural Ballplayer" by Dave Anderson, in The New York Times (January 24, 1979)
“I think I was the best ballplayer I’ve ever seen. I feel nobody in the world could do what I could do on a baseball field. I hope I’m not saying anything wrong, but you have to think you’re the best. The next one would be Roberto Clemente.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“That’s not like me, but I was giving my honest opinion. It doesn’t sound too good, though. [As for the second best player,] I’d have to say Roberto Clemente. He could do anything with the bat and in the field. And then there’s Cesar Cedeno. I don’t know why he hasn’t put it all together. He can do it all.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in “Mays Says He’s the Best Player” by UPI, in The Hutchinson News (January 26, 1979), p. 12
“I wasn't the best hitter, Ted Williams was. I wasn't the best fielder, Roberto Clemente was. I wasn't the best base stealer, was. But I was among the best in everything.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1979 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Yanks Plan Package Deal for Carew" by Dick Braude (AP), in The Elmira Star-Gazette (January 26, 1979), p. 11
“Herman didn't interfere with me. He gave me that authority. I managed the field. Whatever went on on the field, I did it. I did every . . . thing. Nowadays, the manager tells everybody what to do, the manager does everything. That's why you see this [pantomiming a catcher repeatedly glancing over at the dugout]. When we played, we just looked on the field. Usually it was an infielder. The Dodgers were run by Pee Wee. Alston just sat in the dugout. Usually it was an infielder, but Herman gave me the authority.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“He could hit a ball farther than anybody that I've seen.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 2009 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: Speaking about with Bob Costas, on the December 15, 2009 episode of MLB Network's Studio 42.
“Richie Allen was—and still is—a Hall of Famer as far as I'm concerned.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I just felt baseball was a beautiful game, especially at night. The sun -- I mean, you had the lights out there and all you do is go out there, and you're out there by yourself in center field, and it's just a beautiful game. And, I just felt that it was such a beautiful game that I just wanted to play it forever, you know.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I never had any training. I never had a guy say to me, "Do it this way, do it that way." When I was growing up, I was the last guy to get picked for every team that I was on. If they needed a pitcher, I pitched. If there was a catcher needed, I caught. First baseman, shortstop, whatever position they needed, that's what I played. I felt I was the best all-around athlete on that particular team. Most of them couldn't do that, everybody wanted to play a position. It didn't matter what position I played. I just had fun and enjoyed it.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“People talk about that catch and, I've said this many times, that I've made better catches than that many times in regular season. But of course in my time, you didn't have a lot of television during the regular season. A lot of people didn't see me do a lot of things.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I think the key to that particular play was the throw. I knew I had the ball all the time. In my mind, because I was so cocky at that particular time when I was young, whatever went in the air I felt that I could catch. That's how sure I would be about myself. When the ball went up I had no idea that I wasn't going to catch the ball. As I'm running -- I'm running backwards and I'm saying to myself, "How am I going to get this ball back into the infield?”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The greatest challenge I think is adjusting to not playing baseball. The reason for that is that 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. And, instead of people doing things for me, I had to do things for myself. That was scary for me.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“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. You're at home plate now, how do you get to first? How do you get to second? How do you get to third? When you get back to home, your problem is solved. That's the way I view the business world, I view it as a baseball game. Once you start thinking the way you've been taught to think over so many years, you have no problems.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I would say the main thing in any young kid's life is education. Even if a guy is prejudiced, he can be educated to understand why he is prejudiced. Education plays a great role in all life, whether you're black or white. You've got to go to high school, you've got to go to college. When you come out of college or high school, you can play sports. If you ever get hurt, they can't take that brain away from you, you've got that.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“The American Dream can come in many different ways for many different people. It doesn't have to come in the way they explain it to you. Now, the American Dream can come if a guy hits the lottery. Who in the world thought he would hit a lottery? That's the American Dream for him. But I look at it from day one, moving up the ladder, and moving up the ladder. Now you get to the top of the ladder and you have to look back. How did you get to that ladder? To me, that's the American Dream.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) said by 2024 at the latest wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
“I managed the field when I played. The other players played off me, like a quarterback. One, two, three. Fastball, breaking ball, change. [...] I set the defenses, infield and outfield, and I called the pitches. We had one rule: if you didn't follow what I said, you didn't play. [...] The catcher, Dick Dietz, would stand up. He'd look at me. I'd give the signal, then he'd crouch down and give it to the pitcher. The pitcher could turn to me and rub it off if he didn't like it. [...] When every guy came up to bat, I would set up a defense for that hitter and I would give one sign to the catcher. If I called for a fastball, it didn't mean the pitcher was going to throw all fastballs. That meant, Make this guy hit a fastball. Let him see a breaking ball, but make him hit a fastball. Then you set the defense according to how he pitches. With Gaylord or Marichal, if they say, "I'm going to make him hit a fastball," they make him hit a fastball. If I got a pitcher to play with me, 90 per cent of the time we could catch that ball. We all played together. Infield, outfield, together.”
Willie Mays (1931–2024) first seen 1989 wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0 source
Recorded in: As quoted in "Say Hey, He's the One Who Called the Shots" by Scott Ostler, in The Los Angeles Times (March 13, 1989), Pt. III, pp. 1, 7