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Success Quote by Connie Mack

"I guess more players lick themselves that are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself"

About this Quote

Connie Mack’s line lands like a clubhouse joke that turns, mid-laugh, into a sermon about control. The crude pun on “licked” does double duty: it keeps the tone masculine and unembarrassed, but it also smuggles in a hard truth about failure. Most defeats aren’t delivered by a rival; they’re self-administered. By putting “players” and “any man” in the same breath, Mack stretches a baseball aphorism into a worldview, one that treats competition as secondary to composure.

The intent is managerial, almost paternal. Mack isn’t describing mechanics or strategy; he’s drawing a boundary around responsibility. “Lick themselves” points to the quiet ways athletes lose: panic, ego, distraction, bad habits, the spiral after an error. In the early 20th-century baseball culture Mack helped define, discipline was a currency, and “handle himself” is a euphemism for emotional regulation as much as for conduct. It’s self-command framed as a prerequisite for talent to matter.

There’s subtext, too, about leadership. A manager can’t swing the bat for you; he can only build conditions where you don’t sabotage your own gifts. Mack’s phrasing assumes that the opponent is knowable, even manageable, but the self is the real home-field advantage or liability. The quip’s bluntness is the point: it cuts through the romance of heroic rivalries and pins the outcome on the player’s private habits, the stuff that never makes the box score but decides the season.

Quote Details

TopicSelf-Discipline
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Citation Formats

APA Style (7th ed.)
Mack, Connie. (2026, January 16). I guess more players lick themselves that are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-more-players-lick-themselves-that-are-99550/

Chicago Style
Mack, Connie. "I guess more players lick themselves that are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-more-players-lick-themselves-that-are-99550/.

MLA Style (9th ed.)
"I guess more players lick themselves that are ever licked by an opposing team. The first thing any man has to know is how to handle himself." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/i-guess-more-players-lick-themselves-that-are-99550/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.

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Connie Mack (December 22, 1862 - February 8, 1956) was a Businessman from USA.

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