A Quote by Mickey Mantle

The greatest thing I ever saw was Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's record. — © Mickey Mantle
The greatest thing I ever saw was Roger Maris breaking Babe Ruth's record.
In 1961, when Maris broke Babe Ruth's record, he wasn't intentionally walked once. Mickey batted after Roger, and nobody was going to put a man on base with Mantle coming up to the plate.
I don't want to be Babe Ruth. He was a great ballplayer. I'm not trying to replace him. The record is there and damn right I want to break it, but that isn't replacing Babe Ruth.
The first time that I ever saw Babe Ruth was in the Boston Red Sox clubhouse.
He (Babe Ruth) hits a ball harder and further than any man I ever saw.
At a book festival in Fort Lauderdale, I met David Eisenhower, Ike's grandson, who was promoting his book 'Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower,' in which he describes attending the Yankees' 154th game in 1961. The whole family had been following Mantle and Maris chase Babe Ruth's home run record across the country.
You can't judge a man by watching him live. . . . I personally watched Babe Ruth at bat three times, and he struck out every time. But at the very time that I was watching him strike out, the record said that he was the greatest home-run king who ever lived.
They said you'd really have to be something to be like Babe Ruth. But Babe Ruth was an American player. What we needed was a Puerto Rican player they could say that about, someone to look up to and try to equal.
I don't know why Roger (Maris) isn't in the hall of fame. To me, he was as good as there ever was.
Other boys went to see Babe Ruth. Babe Ruth came to see me.
A-Rod wants to be like Babe Ruth. And people don't realize this, he's a lot like Babe Ruth. Before the playoffs a couple of years ago, A-Rod went to the hospital and promised a dying kid he'd ground out to second for him.
I don't know where Hank Aaron will break (Babe) Ruth's record but I can tell you one thing - ten years from the day he hits it three million people will say they were there.
He was a parade all by himself, a burst of dazzle and jingle, Santa Claus drinking his whiskey straight and groaning with a bellyache... Babe Ruth made the music that his joyous years danced to in a continuous party... What Babe Ruth is comes down, one generation handing it down to the next, as a nation heirloom.
Roger Maris was as good a man and as good a ballplayer as there ever was.
I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder.
Don't try to tell Namath's people on First Avenue about Babe Ruth, because they don't even know the name. In fact, with the young, you can forget all of baseball. The sport is gone. But if you ever have seen Ruth, and then you see Namath, you know there is very little difference.
Don't compare me to Babe Ruth. God gave me the opportunity and the ability to be here at the right time, at the right moment, just like he gave Babe Ruth when he was playing. I just hope I can keep doing what I've been doing - keep taking care of business.
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