Top 90 Mickey Mantle Quotes (2024 Update)
Page 2 of 2

51. “If the World Series was on the line and I could pick one pitcher to pitch the game, I’d choose Whitey Ford every time.”

— Mickey Mantle

52. “Casey wanted us to stay loose. That didn’t mean clowning around. He just meant we should be confident and relaxed. We shouldn’t feel that one strikeout was going to end the season for us.”

— Mickey Mantle

53. “The best hitter I ever saw was Ted Williams.”

— Mickey Mantle

54. “I never saw him fight. I never saw Billy fight.”

— Mickey Mantle

55. “They should have come out of the dugout on tippy-toes, holding hands and singing.”

— Mickey Mantle

56. “I always loved the game, but when my legs weren’t hurting it was a lot easier to love.”

— Mickey Mantle

57. “I guess you could say I’m what this country is all about.”

— Mickey Mantle

58. “Sometimes I think if I had the same body and the same natural ability and someone else’s brain, who knows how good a player I might have been.”

— Mickey Mantle

59. “If I send the ball home, I know what will happen to it. My twin brothers will take it out on the lot, like any 20-cent rocket.”

— Mickey Mantle

60. “The biggest thrill I ever had was in 1969, when they held day at Yankee Stadium.”

— Mickey Mantle

61. “I leaned on him for support when I got out of the cab, and he just crumpled to the ground. That’s how we found out.”

— Mickey Mantle

62. “A body came flying out and landed at my feet. At first I thought it was Billy so I picked him up. But when I saw it wasn’t I dropped him back down.”

— Mickey Mantle

63. “Those people don’t know how tough that really was.”

— Mickey Mantle

64. “You don’t have to talk to me about pensions. I won’t be around long enough to collect one.”

— Mickey Mantle

65. “His fielding leaves you wondering. Then he steps up to hit and all doubts start to fade.”

— Mickey Mantle

66. “To play 18 years in Yankee Stadium is the best thing that could ever happen to a ballplayer.”

— Mickey Mantle

67. “Billy copied Casey to a ‘T.’”

— Mickey Mantle

68. “All the ballparks and the big crowds have a certain mystique. You feel attached, permanently wedded to the sounds that ring out, to the fans chanting your name, even when there are only four or five thousand in the stands on a Wednesday afternoon.”

— Mickey Mantle

69. “He can run, steal bases, throw, hit for average, and hit with power like I’ve never seen. Just don’t put him at shortstop.”

— Mickey Mantle

70. “The biggest game I ever played in was probably Don Larsen’s perfect game.”

— Mickey Mantle

71. “The best team I ever saw, and I really mean this, was the ’61 Yankees.”

— Mickey Mantle

72. “Casey didn’t easily forgive a guy who got doubled up on a hit-and-run play. He didn’t see any reason why the runner couldn’t take a quick glance back toward the plate to make sure the ball was hit safely.”

— Mickey Mantle

73. “You hit .350 you’re a leader. You hit .250 and you’re not.”

— Mickey Mantle

74. “It was the single greatest feat I ever saw.”

— Mickey Mantle

75. “I never got to see the ’27 Yankees. Everyone says that was the greatest team ever. But I think it would’ve been a great series if we’d have had the chance to play them.”

— Mickey Mantle

76. “Hey Yog, what time is it? You mean right now?”

— Mickey Mantle

77. “Well, I beat my man. Now it’s up to you to beat yours.”

— Mickey Mantle

78. “Today’s Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they’re out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.”

— Mickey Mantle

79. “I don’t care what the situation was, how high the stakes were – the bases could be loaded and the pennant riding on every pitch, it never bothered Whitey. He pitched his game. Cool. Craft. Nerves of steel.”

— Mickey Mantle

80. “I wanted to throw my glass at the TV.”

— Mickey Mantle

81. “As far as he knew, I was dying.”

— Mickey Mantle

82. “I’ve heard about you. I’ve heard about you, too.”

— Mickey Mantle

83. “No man in the history of baseball had as much power as. No man.”

— Mickey Mantle

84. “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.”

— Mickey Mantle

85. “Of course, I didn’t tell you about all the times I said I was going to hit one and it didn’t happen.”

— Mickey Mantle

86. “All I have is natural ability.”

— Mickey Mantle

87. “He foresaw the platooning that managers like Casey Stengel used years before it happened. He told me I had to be a switch-hitter if I was going to play.”

— Mickey Mantle

88. “Hey Mantle, you win. You’re the worst.”

— Mickey Mantle

89. “There were things that would irritate Casey, but trying too hard or getting mad at sitting on the bench weren’t among them.”

— Mickey Mantle

90. “Before you go, would you sign that case of balls for me?”

— Mickey Mantle

91. “Because the players knew that if Billy asked them to jump off a roof, he’d jump off with them.”

— Mickey Mantle

92. “You might as well go in and start getting dressed. I’m going to hit his first pitch for a home run.”

— Mickey Mantle

93. “The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It’s the only thing I know.”

— Mickey Mantle

94. “At my best I was as good as anyone.”

— Mickey Mantle

95. “The thing I really liked about Mickey was the way he treated everyone the same.”

— Mickey Mantle

96. “I don’t know why, but for some reason I seem to be more popular now than when I was playing.”

— Mickey Mantle

97. “After they remodeled Yankee Stadium I didn’t feel that the ghosts were there anymore. It just wasn’t the same.”

— Mickey Mantle

98. “When I hit a home run I usually didn’t care where it went. So long as it was a home run was all that mattered.”

— Mickey Mantle