They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.
Ted WilliamsRead
If I was being paid thirty-thousand dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400.
Interpretation
Determination and talent should match the effort and rewards one receives.
Ted Williams highlights the principle that if one receives a substantial reward, in this case, a high salary, they should meet or exceed the expectations associated with that reward through their performance. This reflects a broader idea about the importance of accountability and striving for excellence in one's endeavors.
In practice
In a motivational speech to aspiring athletes, this quote can be used to emphasize the importance of matching effort with reward.
They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.
I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.
A man has to have goals - for a day, for a lifetime - and that was mine, to have people say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived.'
There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher.
You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues.
Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game.
I'm an athlete and I'm black, and a lot of black athletes go broke. I do not want to become a statistic, so maybe I overcompensate. But I'm paranoid. Oprah told me a long time ago, 'You sign every check. Never let anyone sign any checks.'
The high point for me in my career was when Sinatra called me his favourite performer in the Fifties. And I've been sold out ever since.
Wealth, like happiness, is never attained when sought after directly. It comes as a by-product of providing a useful service.
Work is life for me, it is the only point of life - and with it there is almost religious belief that service is everything.
I didn't want to be a big star. I wanted to be a really good actor.
No matter what you do, do it to your utmost. I always attribute my success to always requiring myself to do my level best, if only in driving a tack in straight.
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