Cheech Marin Quotes

With the Giants I broadcast the debut of Hall of Famer Willie Mays.

When I was working on the unauthorized biography 'Stan Musial: An American Life,' which came out in 2011, old opponents recalled how Musial knew their names after they had been in the majors only a few days.

I had some great role models along the way. My on-field heroes were the great Ernie Banks, Billy Williams, and Willie Mays. I wanted to be like them on the field, and I am so damn proud to join them in the Hall of Fame.

Baseball was the darling of all sports back then.

I don't plan on writing biographies of great sports stars who are still playing ball. But I did write one on Jackie Robinson, who was playing ball in the 20th century.

There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago. That's baseball.

Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything.

I played with Willie Mays and against Hank Aaron. They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson.

They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.

There's absolutely no comparisons to me or anyone else to Willie Mays. Willie Mays, he's the greatest baseball player of all time.

I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don't I have the numbers to be inducted?

Carl Yastrzemski was the best all-around player. He could run, throw and hit. He had the ability to play a number of different positions. He signed as a shortstop. He could play the outfield, of course, and third base and first, too. He was a tremendous athlete. Mickey Mantle was unbelievable, too.

When I went to Brooklyn in 1948 Jackie Robinson was at the height of his brilliant career.

I knew how to read box scores and who the baseball heroes were before I had ever seen or even heard much of a game.

I have been blessed to win a number of awards and be involved in numerous historical baseball moments over my 20-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

Willie Wells, Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Buck Leonard, Quincy Troupe, Satchel Paige - earlier than when he was called up - Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson. You see what kind of talent we had, and guys in the majors knew it too.

The final ballots represent players, managers, executives and builders who are top-tier candidates and worthy of review for consideration for election to the Hall of Fame.

I want to be part of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, but I don't want to be part of the kind of Hall of Fame that's based on voters' beliefs and assumptions.

As far as I'm concerned, Aaron is the best ball player of my era. He is to baseball of the last fifteen years what Joe DiMaggio was before him. He's never received the credit he's due.

When I came into baseball, I had one goal for my career - the Hall of Fame.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That's baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying, 'I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.'

When I started playing the game of baseball, the more I played and the better numbers I got, the more I started thinking about the Hall of Fame. But I never thought I had a chance to be there.

I rooted for the Dodgers when they were in Brooklyn.

Going through college a Red Sox fan and knowing the history behind everything that was going on back in the '80s and finally getting a chance to win a World Series for this great city and bringing it back after 86 years, it was truly special, and it's one of the highlights that I'll remember for a long time.

I've had heroes in my life - Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth.