George Vecsey Quotes

I think it's incredible because there were guys like Mays and Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years... I only had four or five good years.

You never had the opportunity to play with some of the great ballplayers, but being that close around them, and being in the same category, was a great feeling, to feel that vibe of all the best players who played the game.

Derek Jeter is one who played for such a long time, and David Ortiz in Boston is doing it right now.

Even Rod Woodson will tell you his best year he had as a professional was when he was 36 years old. If you think about why, you're much wiser.

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.

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.

You look at all the great players that they've had and the potential of playing in Yankee Stadium.

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.

The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy.

There are a lot of men playing great tennis well into their thirties.

You know what I always say about basketball whenever anybody tried to tell me the Knicks are gonna be good: They're old. Old people don't get healthy. They die.

Clemens and Maddux have defined our era, I believe. And Randy Johnson is right behind them and still going.

I always appreciated the ex-players. Being a Yankee, you get spoiled. Old-Timers Day, all these guys coming back, spring training, being around them, you get a chance to get to know them. So I always think you learn a lot by listening.

As I have said many times - my father was a great fan of Bill Dickey's and he certainly loved the Yankees. I hope that he would be pleased.

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

It would mean a lot to me to get into the Hall of Fame, to be grouped with some of the greatest players in history.

My parents were fine at 85. So 85's nothing. 100 is another thing. I have a friend whose mother is about to turn 101, and it's not great.

But what I'd really like to tell you is I never dreamed of being in the Hall of Fame. Standing here with all these great players was beyond any of my dreams.

Any time a running back reaches the age of 31 or 32, he has to lose a step. No one is a freak of nature. No one is going to be able to take the pounding a running back has to take over a 10- or 12-year career and not lose a step.

To give you an idea what it feels like to be going in with some of the best baseball players of all-time, I mean it is fantastic. I have to say this about them, there are so many of these guys up here that were my role models, people I looked up to, people I wanted to be like.

And then 45 years later, as I finished my career in the great city of Cleveland, that was another great way to end my career, going to the World Series.

Still, I believe it is only a passing phase and cricket will one day produce an abundance of great players.

During my first Olympics in 1980, at the age of 23, I was physically in great condition but mentally too inexperienced to cope comfortably in the pressure cooker of an Olympic year.

I hope somebody hits .400 soon. Then people can start pestering that guy with questions about the last guy to hit .400.

They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.