Willie Mays
Willie Mays
Willie Howard Mays, Jr., nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former Major League Baseballcenter fielder who spent almost all of his 22 season career playing for the New York and San Francisco Giants, before finishing with the New York Mets. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979, his first year of eligibility...
NationalityAmerican
ProfessionBaseball Player
Date of Birth6 May 1931
CountryUnited States of America
decided game innings knew played playing setting until worried
We knew we had to keep playing until the game was decided one way or the other. We played 10, 15 innings sometimes. The All-Star Game was important to us. We weren't worried about setting records. We were worried about winning.
baseball believe best goes honestly player
Hopefully, they can say, "There goes the best baseball player in the world." I honestly believe I did everything in baseball that a baseball player can do, and I did it with love.
baseball being-yourself player
I was a baseball player, I taught baseball, and all of a sudden I was in the business world. Now I used the baseball world to talk about their product. Not too much, just enough to keep going. Just be yourself and you'll never have a problem. That's what I did.
sports good-life play
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.
play balls born
Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.
baseball player guy
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.
thinking play good-things
I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.
hero player problem
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.
years games play
When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was.
sports eye player
One of the hardest parts of practice is the criticism a player takes from his coaches. Some players think a coach has it in for them when a flaw in style is pointed out ... I know that when things start going wrong, for one, I get the coach to keep his eye on me to see what I'm suddenly doing wrong. I can't see it or I wouldn't be doing it in the first place.
baseball thinking player
I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.
closer eyes seen tearing
It was all I could do to not scream. If they were closer they may have seen my eyes tearing up. Man, that hurt.
badly baseball best best-friends came coach drafted friend gave mays meet pro willie
I wanted badly to play and coach (Mike) Goldschmidt gave me that opportunity. My best friend came up here and told me about the program. I want to be drafted after this season. Ultimately, I want to play pro baseball and meet Willie Mays in person.
american-athlete black father money particular picked time
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.