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 success was not based so much on any great intelligence but on great common sense.
Paying attention to simple little things that most men neglect makes a few men rich.
Planning defines the particular place you want to be and how you intend to get there. It's a responsibility rather than a technique.
When I'm doing a movie, I'm not doing anything else. It's all about the movie. I don't have a wife. I don't have a kid. Nothing can get in my way... I've made a choice, so far, to go on this road alone. Because this is my time. This is my time to make movies.
It's always an honor to be ranked high, but whatever is said about you, you take it and then take a realistic look at yourself and who you are.
The blaze of reputation cannot be blown out, but it often dies in the socket; a very few names may be considered as perpetual lamps that shine unconsumed.
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