Willie Mays Quotes

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.

Richie Allen was—and still is—a Hall of Famer as far as I'm concerned.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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 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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

He could hit a ball farther than anybody that I've seen.