Mickey Mantle Quotes

In 1961 somebody could've hit a home run to win the game and the next day the headline was about the M&M boys not hitting a home run. But everyone was real good about it. Instead of getting mad they joked about it.

A body came flying out and landed at my feet. At first I thought it was Billy so I picked him up. But when I saw it wasn't I dropped him back down.

The biggest thrill I ever had was in 1969, when they held day at Yankee Stadium.

It's what you're worth.

I don't care what the situation was, how high the stakes were - the bases could be loaded and the pennant riding on every pitch, it never bothered Whitey. He pitched his game. Cool. Craft. Nerves of steel.

They should have come out of the dugout on tippy-toes, holding hands and singing.

I don't know why, but for some reason I seem to be more popular now than when I was playing.

I could never be a manager. All I have is natural ability.

Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said "sure, every time".

Of course, I didn't tell you about all the times I said I was going to hit one and it didn't happen.

If I had known I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself!

Well, baseball was my whole life. Nothing's ever been as fun as baseball.

The strain on Roger (Maris) was unbelievable. After I dropped out the reporters only had one guy to go to. They surrounded him everywhere he went. He had big clumps of hair falling out. That he went ahead and did it was unbelievable.

Those people don't know how tough that really was.

After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases.

The best hitter I ever saw was Ted Williams.

Every time I see his name (Dean Chance) on a lineup card, I feel like throwing up.

You don't realize how easy this game is until you get up in that broadcasting booth.

Hey Yog, what time is it? You mean right now?

When I hit a home run I usually didn't care where it went. So long as it was a home run was all that mattered.

To play 18 years in Yankee Stadium is the best thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer.

Hey man! Get away from me!

The best team I ever saw, and I really mean this, was the '61 Yankees.

His fielding leaves you wondering. Then he steps up to hit and all doubts start to fade.

When I'm hitting, I'd play for nothing. When I'm not, any kind of money I receive makes me feel as if I'm stealing.

Heroes are people who are all good with no bad in them. That's the way I always saw Joe DiMaggio. He was beyond question one of the greatest players of the century.

I thought I raised a ballplayer. You're nothing but a coward and a quitter.

I'll play baseball for the Army or fight for it, whatever they want me to do.

I had it all and blew it.

During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.

All I have is natural ability.

Billy (Martin) wasn't afraid of anything.

I expected him to say, 'Hang in there' or something like that. It took me an hour to talk him into giving me another chance!

In 1960 when Pittsburgh beat us in the World Series, we outscored them 55-27. It was the only time I think the better team lost. I was so disappointed I cried on the plane ride home.

You hit .350 you're a leader. You hit .250 and you're not.

The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It's the only thing I know.

He who has the fastest golf cart never has a bad lie.

People say Yogi (Berra) is a strange guy, and I've heard Yogi say some funny things. But he has a beautiful wife, he's rich, and he's famous. I don't see anything strange about that.

Hey Mantle, you win. You're the worst.

It was the single greatest feat I ever saw.

My biggest regret was letting my lifetime average drop below .300. I always felt I was a .300 hitter, and if I could change one thing that would be it.

He said to play louder. He can't hear you.

There were things that would irritate Casey, but trying too hard or getting mad at sitting on the bench weren't among them.

You don't have to talk to me about pensions. I won't be around long enough to collect one.

I never saw him fight. I never saw Billy fight.

It gave me a second chance. I'd like everybody to have a second chance if they need it, so I'm trying to let people know how important it is to become an organ donor.

I always loved the game, but when my legs weren't hurting it was a lot easier to love.

Ralph (Houk) brought out the best in everybody, and that included me. I consider myself lucky to have played for him.

Don't do as I did. I'm living proof of how not to live.

Billy copied Casey to a 'T.'

He who have the fastest cart never have to play a bad lie.

No man in the history of baseball had as much power as . No man.

After they remodeled Yankee Stadium I didn't feel that the ghosts were there anymore. It just wasn't the same.

I leaned on him for support when I got out of the cab, and he just crumpled to the ground. That's how we found out.

Watch the old man. Watch how the old man keeps the guys who aren't playing happy.

Casey wanted us to stay loose. That didn't mean clowning around. He just meant we should be confident and relaxed. We shouldn't feel that one strikeout was going to end the season for us.

If the World Series was on the line and I could pick one pitcher to pitch the game, I'd choose Whitey Ford every time.

He foresaw the platooning that managers like Casey Stengel used years before it happened. He told me I had to be a switch-hitter if I was going to play.

My dad taught me to switch-hit. He and my grandfather, who was left-handed, pitched to me every day after school in the back yard. I batted lefty against my dad and righty against my granddad.

Not after all the time my dad spent teaching me to switch-hit.

The biggest game I ever played in was probably Don Larsen's perfect game.

Thank God for baseball.

Roger Maris was as good a man and as good a ballplayer as there ever was.

I never understood how someone who was dying could say he was the luckiest man in the world, but now I understand.

I hated to bat against Drysdale. After he hit you he'd come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, 'Do you want me to sign it?'

I've often wondered how a man who knew he was going to die could stand here and say he was the luckiest man on the face of the earth, but now I guess I know how he felt.

It was all I lived for, to play baseball.

Sometimes I think if I had the same body and the same natural ability and someone else's brain, who knows how good a player I might have been.

Today's Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they're out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.

If you want to know who was better, me or Willie Mays, you have to look at our career stats. And Willie's bottom line was better.