Willie Mays quotes - page 2
I think the key to that particular play was the throw. I knew I had the ball all the time. In my mind, because I was so cocky at that particular time when I was young, whatever went in the air I felt that I could catch. That's how sure I would be about myself. When the ball went up I had no idea that I wasn't going to catch the ball. As I'm running -- I'm running backwards and I'm saying to myself, "How am I going to get this ball back into the infield?"
Willie Mays
How do you measure a man? How can you compare one man with another unless you've seen them both? I cannot tell about other men who played long ago. I saw Mays. To me, Willie Mays is the greatest who ever played. But he is forty and has had his days – he is tired. San Francisco is all tired. For them it was not easy. For twenty days, they were in a tight pennant race and don't know where they are. Mentally, they were going to be tight. You could see Mays is tired.
Willie Mays
You know I didn't think that he would ever get to the ball, but he did. But then he had the presence of mind to wheel and throw the ball to second base to keep Larry Doby from scoring. Actually if he had tagged up, he could have scored from second base; that's how far the ball was hit. Now on the way in, after we got the third out, I ran in with him. You know, so I said to him, I said 'I didn't think you were going to get to that one'. He said 'You kiddin'? I had that one all the way.'
Willie Mays
