Willie Mays Quotes

Robinson was important to all blacks. To make it into the majors and to take all the name calling, he had to be something special. He had to take all this for years, not just for Jackie Robinson, but for the nation. ~ Willie Mays

Vic Wertz once hit a ball rather famously that was later described as such: 'It would have been a home run in any other park - including Yellowstone.' Instead, he's remembered as the guy who got robbed by Willie Mays' spectacular catch during the 1954 World Series between the Indians and the Giants, a play that remains one of the game's all-time greatest defensive efforts. What people often forget about Wertz is that his greatest battle wasn't that one at bat, and that one out never defined his career. He was stricken with polio in 1955, and after 74 games his season was over and his career was hanging in the balance. 'The Catch' by Willie Mays couldn't keep him down, and neither could polio - he came back in 1956, and despite playing in only 136 games he belted 32 home runs with 106 RBIs. ~ Tucker Elliot

I never dreamed about being President, I wanted to be Willie Mays. ~ George W. Bush

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

To be good you've gotta have a lot of little boy in you. When you see Willie Mays and Ted Williams jumping and hopping around the bases after hitting a home run, and the kissing and hugging that goes on at home plate, you realize they have to be little boys. ~ Roy Campanella

Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything. ~ Doug Harvey

What's tough is being good every day. ~ Willie Mays

That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit. ~ Willie Mays

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. ~ Mickey Mantle

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

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

What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all. ~ 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'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

I don't mean to be bashful, but I was. ~ Willie Mays

If cows wouldn't eat it, I won't play on it. ~ Willie Mays

Oscar Charleston was the Willie Mays of his day. Nobody ever played center field better than Willie Mays. Suppose they had never given Willie a chance, and we said that, would anybody believe there was a kid in Alabama who was that good? Or there was a black guy in Atlanta who might break Babe Ruth's home run record? No. ~ Monte Irvin

Willie Mays could throw better, and Hank Aaron could hit more home runs. But I've got enthusiasm. I've got desire. I've got hustle. Those are God-given talents, too. ~ Pete Rose

It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day. ~ Willie Mays

I want to establish myself as the first Eric Davis, not the next Willie Mays. ~ Eric Davis

I don't compare 'em, I just catch 'em. ~ Willie Mays

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying, 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.' ~ Ernie Harwell

I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder. ~ Sandy Koufax

We paused to breathe and I slid my arms around his neck and held his face the way I'd wanted to for so long. My fingers weaved into his wind-blown hair and tugged the back of his head, pulling his lips toward mine once more. There would be time for breathing later.
"I love you," I whispered when our lips finally parted. "The biggest lie I ever told was telling you I didn't. And if I ever claim you're not romantic, please remind me of the time we were 1.200 feet in the air in December and I needed to fan myself." I saw a smile overtake his eyes and felt it overtake his mouth. "I mean, seriously, Will," I said, my breath still coming back to me.
He pulled away, which was the last thing I wanted, and laughed. "But I'm also just a boy, standing in front of a girl..."
I threw my head back in joyous laughter. "You don't have to ask me to love you, Whitaker. It's done."
"Actually..." He kissed my hand and lowered onto one knee. "I was going to say "asking her to marry him." The hand that wasn't linked with mine was holding a beautiful emerald cut diamond ring. "Sorry there's not a box," he said with a wink.
My breath caught in my throat. "But, how did you...why do you..."
"Sorry, but Kevin's on my team. I claimed him pretty early. And he understands, in a way you still don't seem to, that not even Willie Mays and Hank Aaron could provide me with the motivation that you could. Besides, McCaffrey, even I'm not stupid enough to fall for that ridiculous ~ Bethany Turner

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

I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw. ~ Willie Mays

As much as I loved Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Junior Gilliam, and Don Newcombe, I loved watching Willie Mays play more than all of them combined, even if he played for the 'bad guys!' ~ Cheech Marin

They throw the ball, I hit it. They hit the ball, I catch it. ~ 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

There have only been two geniuses in the world - Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare. ~ Tallulah Bankhead

When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was. ~ Willie Mays

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

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

I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days. ~ 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

But this is the point I want to make: When you talk about steroids and
you talk about what it means to the game, the three greatest home run
hitters of all time-Hank Aaron, Babe Ruth and Willie Mays, right? When
they were 39 years old, how many home runs do you think they averaged?
The three greatest home run hitters of all time averaged 18 home runs
at age 39. Now, how many home runs did Barry Bonds hit when he was 39?
He hit 73! ~ Carlton Fisk

Ants, ants crawl my drunken arms as our schoolboys scream for Willie Mays instead of Bach, ants crawl my drunken arms through the drink I reach for surfboards and sinks, for sunflowers and the typewriter falls like a heart-attack from the table or a dead Sunday bull, and the ants crawl into my mouth and down my throat, ~ Charles Bukowski

I'm not sure what the hell charisma is, but I get the feeling it's Willie Mays. ~ Ted Kluszewski

With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays. ~ Ernie Harwell

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

Willie Mays was the best ever. When I was in college I once made a catch like the one Mays made over his head. Sometimes when I'm lying in bed at night I think about it. It still makes me warm. ~ David Duchovny

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

He was something like zero for twenty-one the first time I saw him. His first major league hit was a home run off me and I'll never forgive myself. We might have gotten rid of Willie (Mays) forever if I'd only struck him out. ~ Warren Spahn

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. ~ 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

Every time I look at my pocketbook, I see Jackie Robinson. ~ Willie Mays

We had to sit there for an hour doing nothing. After about three days of sitting there, I said, "Screw this. I'm going to West Monroe High." I realized I wanted to be in town anyway, so I just transferred schools during the first week of school.
After about a month, the principal from West Ouachita called our house.
"Willie hasn't been to school for twenty-seven days," the principal told Phil.
"Well, he leaves for school every morning," Phil told him. "I don't know where he's going. I thought he was going to school."
When I got home that day, Phil asked me where I had been.
"School," I told him.
"Uh-uh," Phil said. "The school called and said you haven't been there in a month."
"Oh, yeah," I told him. "I transferred to West Monroe. I don't go to that school anymore."
"Okay," Phil said. "I figured something was up."

Korie: Can you imagine a tenth-grader transferring schools without even notifying his parents? Willie just showed up at West Monroe High School and said, "Hey, I'm here." He didn't even think about telling Kay and Phil about transferring. ~ Willie Robertson

On the whole I try to keep Modesty and Willie in timeless settings, which is why I avoid all the latest slang and in-words. It won't be long before 'brill' sounds as dated as 'super' does now. [Uncle Happy, 1990] ~ Peter O'Donnell

We've already been reincarnated about a million times, maybe. It doesn't make sense any other way. ~ Willie Nelson

I think that in the Christian community, we're lacking a lot of things, and I don't know that it's just children's role models. ~ Willie Aames

Korie: Jase lives right across the street from us, and he and his wife, Missy, have three kids: Reed, Cole, and Mia. Jase and Missy like to joke that our oldest son, John Luke, is like Kramer from Seinfeld. On nights when we're not cooking at our house, John Luke busts through their front door as soon as he sees the dining room light go on to join them for dinner. He seems to know exactly when Missy pulls the rolls out of the oven. Our baby girl, Bella, and their daughter, Mia, are great friends. We say Mia is like the ghost of our house. She appears in our house at all times. You'll turn around in your recliner, and she'll be standing there. As soon as we pull in the driveway, she's in our house, waiting to play with Bella. Our entire neighborhood is actually family. My parents are next door, along with four aunts and uncles and two grandparents. That's the absolute best thing about where we live. It's all about family. ~ Willie Robertson

Korie: Phil and Willie are so much alike. We went to a marriage seminar at our church one time, and Phil and Kay and Jase and Missy were there as well. Each of the couples took a personality test to see if their personalities were compatible. We all laughed because Phil and Willie scored high in the characteristics for having a dominant personality. They were almost identical in a lot of areas, but somewhat different in that Willie was high in the social category as well. I think Willie got that part of his personality from his mother.
It's funny because people look at the Robertsons and think Jase and Phil are just alike, and they are certainly similar in their love for ducks. But when we took the personality test, we saw that Jase's personality is much more like his mother's. So I guess it makes sense that Phil and Jase get along so well in the duck blind. They made a good team, just like Phil and Kay do at home. Kay has always said that Willie is a lot like Phil and even calls him "Phil Jr." at times. While I wouldn't go that far, I definitely saw the similarities. They both have strong, charismatic personalities. They are both big-picture guys with big ideas and deep beliefs. Whatever either of them is going in life, he does it all the way, and they are both very opinionated, which can sometimes be a challenge. Phil and Willie haven't always been as close as they are now. As they grew, they recognized the attributes they have in common and learned to value one anothe ~ Willie Robertson

Hey you! Don't be silly! Put a rubber on your willie! ~ Madonna Ciccone

Well the country songs themselves are three-chord stories, ballads which are mostly sad. If you are already feeling sorry for yourself when you listen to them they will take you to an even sadder place. ~ Willie Nelson

In a way, you might say that David Duke is the son of Willie Horton. Duke is more overt, of course, but he's really just pushing the same buttons and sending the same coded messages that the Horton ads did so effectively for the Bush campaign last year. ~ Judd Rose

I think Ray Charles did as much as anybody when he did his country music album. Ray Charles broke down borders and showed the similarities between country music and R&B. ~ Willie Nelson

One of the main reasons I came back to Mexico is because I've found freedom and democracy here, something I never found in the United States. ~ Willie Wells

Human beings are pampered by the Lord. Their real tests don't come until later in life. ~ Willie Stargell

There are more old drunks than there are old doctors. ~ Willie Nelson

What is that song that Willie Nelson sang? 'Oh, the days dwindle down to a precious few.' I think of that. No big deal. I've reached a stage in my life where I am content. ~ Gabriel Byrne

I believe that all roads lead to the same place - and that is wherever all roads lead to. ~ Willie Nelson

I get scared to death when I see people who say they've found Jesus Christ, and they're out there, and I wonder, who's teaching them? Who's mentoring them? ~ Willie Aames

I should be one of those actors who has a list. A lot of people do - 'I wanna do this and this and this' - but I don't. I enjoy being surprised - indeed, often ambushed - by a role. ~ Jefferson Mays

Well, it's a Bloody Mary morning, my baby left without warning. ~ Willie Nelson

I've had two pedicures in my life, and they were glorious. ~ Willie Geist

Landing on 'Morning Joe' wasn't a fluke. I was a poli sci major in college. I interned at the CBS political unit, covered conventions. ~ Willie Geist

Writing fiction isn't about lying through your teeth, but more like, fibbing with a little class. ~ Anthony Mays

When you live in New York City, you run up a long list of things you've been meaning to do. ~ Willie Geist

Oh, I think it's definitely spiritual. All music is. I think it's maybe one of the highest forms of spirituality. ~ Willie Nelson

Racism is a cancer that America does not want to cure. ~ Willie D

What has changed is that nothing has changed ... that's what has made me more unhappy than everything else. ~ Willie Nelson

What goes around, comes around. ~ Willie Nelson

If you've made your own hell, then only you have the power to escape it. ~ Willie Nelson

In a tradition second in wonderful absurdity only to 60-year-old baseball managers wearing uniforms and spikes in the dugout, golf spectators come dressed ready to play 18. ~ Willie Geist

If I were to die tomorrow, then I'll like to know I made the most of my life today. ~ Willie Booker

Long live your laundry! ~ Billy Mays

The public still ultimately determines what happens to you politically, by virtue of the casting of their vote ... and you cannot ever predict what will move the public in one direction or another. ~ Willie Brown

My doctor tells me I should start slowing it down - but there are more old drunks than there are old doctors so let's all have another round. ~ Willie Nelson

Do you recognise me?" he asked. Willie looked hard and considered before finally replying "Lie down so I can recognise you. ~ Willie Pep

Stay with Aisling," Drake ordered Jim as he and Gabriel were about to leave.

"Ten four, dragon buddy."

Drake turned to his wife. "Do not do anything foolish, kincsem."

She gave him a fond but exasperated look. "Honest to Pete, dragons! Bossiest beings in the world."

Gabriel smiled at me but said nothing until he and Drake started to leave. "You'll notice I don't have to warn my mate to be careful. I have full confidence in May's abilities," he told Drake.

"She's a female American. No doubt you will soon understand the true depth of hell she can put you through ~ Katie MacAlister

The early bird gets the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese. ~ Willie Nelson

I tried to emulate my favourite guitar players, the old bluesmen like Blind Willie McTell and Big Bill Broonzy. I used to sit by the record player and copy Chuck Berry and the Beatles. You can never copy someone completely, so you end up developing your own style. ~ Ronnie Wood

I'm not a huge luck guy. I think you make your own luck. I don't really believe in some other force making your own luck. ~ Willie Geist

Goin' to the altar. I mean, do ya feel different, or anything?" "Well, it ain't the goin' to the altar," said Willie. I had the feelin' that he was repeatin' what the preacher had said. "It's the prayin' thet makes the difference, ~ Janette Oke

The former secretary of State is the nominee. She is also the Willie Sutton of classified data. And there is going to be a long-term effort of Republicans, whether it's Donald Trump, Marco Rubio, or Ted Cruz, to paint her into the corner. ~ Hugh Hewitt

Willie called me one night in September 1991 after I had been gone a few weeks and said, "Let's get back together." I knew I loved him, but I told him I wasn't sure about it. He was trying to change my life, and it was really his way or no way. I just didn't know what to do.
"Let me think about it," I said. "I'll call you back tomorrow."

I was convinced she'd found someone else. I was telling all my buddies that it was over between us, and I was gathering other girls' phone numbers to prepare myself to move on. I just knew it was over, and I wasn't waiting to hear it from her the next day. I was convinced she wanted to end our relationship but couldn't muster the courage to tell me. Korie called me the next day, and I was ready to tell her that I didn't want to get back together anymore and that our relationship was over. I was certainly going to end it before she ended it. I just knew she already had a new boyfriend at Harding.
"I've got something to tell you," Korie told me.
"What do you want to say?" I asked her, deciding it better to hear her out first.
"Let's get back together," she said.
My ears started buzzing. I threw all the girls' phone numbers in the trash can. About a month later, Korie and I decided we were going to get married. ~ Willie Robertson

I've witnessed thousands of superior athletes try to becomes hitters and fail at it. ~ Willie Stargell

No," the Boss (Willie) corrected, "I'm not a lawyer. I know some law. In fact, I know a lot of law. And I made me some money out of law. That's why I can see what the law is like. It's like a single-bed blanket on a double bed and three folks in the bed and a cold night. There ain't ever enough blanket to cover the case, no matter how much pulling and hauling, and somebody is always going to nigh catch pneumonia. Hell, the law is like the pants you bought last year for a growing boy, but it is always this year and the seams are popped and the shankbone's to the breeze. The law is too short and too tight for growing humankind. The best you can do is do something and then make up some law to fit and by the time that law gets onto the books you would have done something different ... " Willie Stark; All the King's Men ~ Robert Penn Warren

It's like Willie Nelson. You're an artist and you have different styles inside of you. ~ Suzy Bogguss

As adults we try to relax from the never-ending quest for reason and order by drinking a little whiskey or smoking whatever works for us, but the wisdom isn't in the whiskey or the smoke. The wisdom is in the moments when the madness slips away and we remember the basics. ~ Willie Nelson

People have been brainwashed into believing that it's got to be down or it wouldn't be blues. But it's not so. It's got to be a fact or it wouldn't be blues. ~ Willie Dixon

You could try to live monogamously. Good luck. ~ Willie Nelson

Now I've got the world swingin' from my nuts
And damn it feels good to be a gangsta! ~ Willie D

The colder the weather, the bigger the gun
Got to rock a lot of clothes if you tryina hide one
In June it's .22's, February it's fifths
But all year round, it's 616. ~ Willie The Kid