#lay

Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was. ↗

— Willie Mays

#born #i #i was born #maybe #play

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

#ball #birmingham #black #came #guys

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. ↗

— Willie Mays

#defense #key #me #playing

I always enjoyed playing ball, and it didn't matter to me whether I played with white kids or black. I never understood why an issue was made of who I played with, and I never felt comfortable, when I grew up, telling other people how to act. ↗

— Willie Mays

#always #ball #black #comfortable #enjoyed

I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play. ↗

— Willie Mays

#good #good things #how #i #i came

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

#angry #fortunate #good #good life #had

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

#bases #field #game #good #hit

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

#ball player #baseball #baseball player #became #before

The greatest challenge I think is adjusting to not playing baseball. The reason for that is I had to come out of baseball and come into the business world, not being a college graduate, not being educated to come into the business world the way I should have. ↗

— Willie Mays

#baseball #being #business #business world #challenge

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

— Willie Mays

#depends #every #games #got #how