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.
My proudest moment? Every Friday morning when I look at the board at Celtic Park and see my name on the team sheet for tomorrow's game.
The key factor that will determine your financial future is not the economy; the key factor is your philosophy.
As I was growing up, I did a lot of talent shows. I won fifteen Sunday nights straight in a series of talent shows in Macon. I showed up the sixteenth night, and they wouldn't let me go on any more. Whatever success I had was through the help of the good Lord.
Discount the obvious, bet on the unexpected
Do you see the consequences of the way we have chosen to think about success? Because we so profoundly personalize success, we miss opportunities to lift others onto the top rung...We are too much in awe of those who succeed and far too dismissive of those who fail. And most of all, we become much too passive. We overlook just how large a role we all play—and by “we” I mean society—in determining who makes it and who doesn’t.
It's really annoying for me. That's not what I'm playing for, to be the face of the NBA or to be this or that or to take LeBron's throne or whatever.
Subscribe for the occasional hand-picked quote. No noise.