Willie Mays Quotes

Willie Howard Mays, Jr. , nicknamed "The Say Hey Kid", is an American former professional baseball center fielder, who spent almost all of his 22-season Major League Baseball career playing for the New York/San Francisco Giants, before finishing with the New York Mets. He is regarded as one of the greatest baseball players of all time and was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1979.

Mays won two National League Most Valuable Player awards, ended his career with 660 home runs—third at the time of his retirement and currently fifth all-time—and won a record-tying 12 Gold Glove awards beginning in 1957, when the award was introduced.Mays shares the record of most All-Star Games played with 24, with Hank Aaron and Stan Musial. In appreciation of his All-Star record, Ted Williams said "They invented the All-Star Game for Willie Mays."Mays' career statistics and his longevity in the pre-performance-enhancing drugs era have drawn speculation that he may be the finest five-tool player ever, and many surveys and expert analyses, which have examined Mays' relative performance, have led to a growing opinion that Mays was possibly the greatest all-around offensive baseball player of all time. In 1999, Mays placed second on The Sporting News's "List of the 100 Greatest Baseball Players", making him the highest-ranking living player. Later that year, he was also elected to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team. Mays is one of five National League players to have had eight consecutive 100-RBI seasons, along with Mel Ott, Sammy Sosa, Chipper Jones, and Albert Pujols. Mays hit over 50 home runs in 1955 and 1965, representing the longest time span between 50-plus home run seasons for any player in Major League Baseball history. His final Major League Baseball appearance came on October 16 during Game 3 of the 1973 World Series.



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✵ 6. May 1931
Willie Mays photo
Willie Mays: 17   quotes 1   like

Famous Willie Mays Quotes

Willie Mays Quotes about the world

“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.”

As quoted in "Sports of the Times: The Most Natural Ballplayer" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVUcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465%2C2456085&dq=who%27s-best-ever-aside-yourself-next-roberto

Willie Mays Quotes

“But I don't want to compare 'em,”

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 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0akpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Gk4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1599%2C3418911&dq=willie-mays-made-star-tling-catch-bob-skinner and June 6 http://www.mediafire.com/view/m5bmpfxdu5ciu3m/%20.png, respectively (the latter "circus catch" made not against Bell, as per Mays' recollection, but rather Chuck Harmon, who directly preceded Bell in the lineup that day); as paraphrased and quoted in "Willie Modestly Scoffs at Raves Over Big Catch" by UPI, in Newsday (September 30, 1954), p. 95
Context: 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."

“I'm just a ballplayer, not a sports writer. I don't compare 'em; I just catch 'em.”

Context: 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."

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 https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=0akpAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Gk4EAAAAIBAJ&pg=1599%2C3418911&dq=willie-mays-made-star-tling-catch-bob-skinner and June 6 http://www.mediafire.com/view/m5bmpfxdu5ciu3m/%20.png, respectively (the latter "circus catch" made not against Bell, as per Mays' recollection, but rather Chuck Harmon, who directly preceded Bell in the lineup that day); as paraphrased and quoted in "Willie Modestly Scoffs at Raves Over Big Catch" by UPI, in Newsday (September 30, 1954), p. 95

“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.”

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 (October 15, 1960), p. 25

“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.”

As quoted in "Sports of the Times: The Most Natural Ballplayer" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=UVUcAAAAIBAJ&sjid=p1EEAAAAIBAJ&pg=6465%2C2456085&dq=who%27s-best-ever-aside-yourself-next-roberto by Dave Anderson, in The New York Times (January 24, 1979)

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