Favorite Baseball Quote(s)

[Roast]

What are some of your favorite quotes from or about baseball?

 

Some of mine:

 

"Baseball was, is, and always will be to me the best game in the world"

--Babe Ruth

 

"When I began playing the game, baseball was about as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch."

--Ty Cobb

 

"I never could stand losing. Second place didn't interest me. I had a fire in my belly."

--Ty Cobb

 

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball"

--Pete Rose

 

"Baseball is dull only to those with dull minds"

--Red Smith

[BCVM22]

"When a [samurai] warrior killed himself, he needed an assistant who would finish the job by cutting his head off. The task was always left to a trusted and highly skilled swordsman, because this had to be done with one clean, perfect stroke. If the stroke was not perfect, the result would be a horrible mess. I approached the task of hitting a baseball in the same manner."

 

- Sadaharu Oh

[OleMissCub]

"One percent of ballplayers are leaders of men. The other ninety-nine percent are followers of women." - John McGraw

 

"No matter what I talk about, I always get back to baseball." - Connie Mack

 

"Hitting is easy...you just wait for a strike and then knock the s**t out of it." - Stan Musial

 

"I'd play for half my salary if I could hit in this dump all the time." - Babe Ruth on Wrigley Field.

 

"The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it." - Ty Cobb

 

"The way to get a ball past Honus is to hit it eight feet over his head." - John McGraw

 

"All pitchers are liars or crybabies." - Yogi Berra

 

""Show me a good loser in professional sports, and I'll show you an idiot." - Leo Durocher.

 

"All my friends became Cardinal fans and grew up happy and liberal. I became a Cub fan and grew up embittered and conservative." - George Will

[Clem Fandango]

N ot really quotes by baseball players, but still good, including my favorite from Field of Dreams

 

"Ray, people will come, Ray. They'll come to Iowa for reasons they can't even fathom. They'll turn up your driveway, not knowing for sure why they're doing it. They'll arrive at your door as innocent as children, longing for the past. "Of course, we won't mind if you have a look around," you'll say. "It's only twenty dollars per person." They'll pass over the money without even thinking about it; for it is money they have and peace they lack. And they'll walk out to the bleachers, and sit in shirt-sleeves on a perfect afternoon. They'll find they have reserved seats somewhere along one of the baselines, where they sat when they were children and cheered their heroes. And they'll watch the game, and it'll be as if they'd dipped themselves in magic waters. The memories will be so thick, they'll have to brush them away from their faces. People will come, Ray. The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It's been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt, and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is a part of our past, Ray. It reminds us of all that once was good, and it could be again. Ohhhhhhhh, people will come, Ray. People will most definitely come."

- James Earl Jones as Terrance Mann, "Field of Dreams"

 

Baseball is the only place in life where a sacrifice is really appreciated.

—Anonymous

 

If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.

—Dave Barry

 

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game.

—Jacques Barzun

quoted in The Joy of Sports, 1976

[SouthSideRyan]

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.

[vance_the_cubs_fan]

It's just like fishing. You're going striped bass fishing. You've got birds on top and you follow the birds. Where the birds are, the bait fish are below that. Below the bait fish are the striped bass. That's what you want to do. That's how you want to do your lineup. That way they can't escape. That's how I try to make my lineup out so the opposition can't pitch around this guy or that guy and that guy and can't escape. You try to get them in the crossfire.--- Dusty Baker.

[chuckywang]

There is a clock in other sports. There's no clock in baseball. If you can keep on hitting, if you can keep getting on base, if you can keep that rally going, you can play until ... a week from now. There is no parameter that makes it impossible for you to perform still more excellently.

 

-Mario Cuomo

[Springfield_CUBBY]

"Baseball is different from any other sport, very different. For instance, in most sports you score points or goals; in baseball you score runs. In most sports the ball, or object, is put in play by the offensive team; in baseball the defensive team puts the ball in play, and only the defense is allowed to touch the ball. In fact, in baseball if an offensive player touches the ball intentionally, he's out; sometimes unintentionally, he's out." ~George Carlin

[The Voice of Reason]

On the marriage of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe - I don't know if it's good for baseball, but it sure beats the hell out of rooming with Phil Rizzuto

 

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

 

Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?

 

About Coach Bill Dickey - "He's learning me his experience."

 

I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.

 

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.

 

On why NY lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh " We made to many wrong mistakes".

 

On his plans for the '64 World Series- "It ain't like football. You can't make up no trick plays."

 

Yogi on the 1969 NY Mets....." overwhelming underdogs".

 

Nobody goes there anymore...it's too crowded!

 

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.

 

Pitching always beats batting -- and vice-versa.

 

When asked what time is was......" you mean now?".

 

The future ain't what it used to be.

 

Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.

 

It gets late early out here.

 

It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future.

 

Slump ? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin.

 

If people aren't gonna come out to the ballpark, who's gonna stop 'em?

 

It ain't over till it's over.

 

- Yogi Berra

[Jehrico]

On the marriage of Joe DiMaggio and Marilyn Monroe - I don't know if it's good for baseball, but it sure beats the hell out of rooming with Phil Rizzuto

 

When you come to a fork in the road, take it.

 

Think! How the hell are you gonna think and hit at the same time?

 

About Coach Bill Dickey - "He's learning me his experience."

 

I always thought that record would stand until it was broken.

 

I knew I was going to take the wrong train, so I left early.

 

On why NY lost the 1960 series to Pittsburgh " We made to many wrong mistakes".

 

On his plans for the '64 World Series- "It ain't like football. You can't make up no trick plays."

 

Yogi on the 1969 NY Mets....." overwhelming underdogs".

 

Nobody goes there anymore...it's too crowded!

 

Always go to other people's funerals, otherwise they won't come to yours.

 

Pitching always beats batting -- and vice-versa.

 

When asked what time is was......" you mean now?".

 

The future ain't what it used to be.

 

Baseball is 90 percent mental and the other half is physical.

 

It gets late early out here.

 

It's hard to make predictions, especially about the future.

 

Slump ? I ain't in no slump. I just ain't hittin.

 

If people aren't gonna come out to the ballpark, who's gonna stop 'em?

 

It ain't over till it's over.

 

- Yogi Berra

I was going to express my dismay at the lack of Yogi quotes until I saw your post. Can't have a discussion about baseball quotes without it being dominated by Yogi.

[Ding Dong Johnson]

"I'm convinced that every boy, in his heart, would rather steal second base than an automobile." -Tom Clark

 

"I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it." -Rogers Hornsby

 

"You know it's summertime at Candlestick when the fog rolls in, the wind kicks up, and you see the center fielder slicing open a caribou to survive the ninth inning." -Bob Sarlette

 

"A hot dog at the ballgame beats roast beef at the Ritz." -Humphrey Bogart

 

"You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too." -Roy Campanella

 

"There are three things in my life which I really love: God, my family, and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit." -Al Gallagher

 

"Back then, my idol was Bugs Bunny, because I saw a cartoon of him playing ball - you know, the one where he plays every position himself with nobody else on the field but him? Now that I think of it, Bugs is still my idol. You have to love a ballplayer like that." -Nomar Garciaparra

 

"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?" -Jim Bouton

 

"Nolan Ryan is pitching much better now that he has his curve ball straightened out." -Joe Garagiola

 

"I don't care how long you've been around, you'll never see it all." -Bob Lemon

 

"I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen." -Bob Lemon

 

"Sandy's (Koufax) fastball was so fast, some batters would start to swing as he was on his way to the mound." -Jim Murray

 

"The strongest thing that baseball has going for it today are its yesterdays." -Lawrence Ritter

 

"I have discovered in twenty years of moving around a ball park, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats." -Bill Veeck

 

"Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing." -Warren Spahn

 

"Don't forget to swing hard, in case you hit the ball." -Woodie Held

 

"Putting lights in Wrigley Field is like putting aluminum siding on the Sistine Chapel." -Roger Simon

 

"The place was always cold, and I got the feeling that the fans would have enjoyed baseball more if it had been played with a hockey puck." -Andre Dawson, on Montreal

 

"A baseball game is twice as much fun if you're seeing it on the company's time." -William C. Feather

[David]

A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December. - Earl Weaver

 

In baseball, you can't kill the clock. You've got to give the other man his chance. That's why this is the greatest game. - Earl Weaver

 

Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher. - Earl Weaver

 

 

The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers. - Earl Weaver

 

 

 

I heart Earl Weaver

[OleMissCub]

A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December. - Earl Weaver

 

In baseball, you can't kill the clock. You've got to give the other man his chance. That's why this is the greatest game. - Earl Weaver

 

Momentum? Momentum is the next day's starting pitcher. - Earl Weaver

 

 

The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers. - Earl Weaver

 

 

 

I heart Earl Weaver

 

The obligatory Earl Weaver post:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Or1_1Cktdvs

[bhogg]

Ryne Sandberg's entire HoF induction speech.

[Derwood]

A slider low and away should get him right here. - Steve Stone

[bukie]

Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth. I have been in ballparks for seventeen years and have never received anything but kindness and encouragement from you fans.

 

Look at these grand men. Which of you wouldn't consider it the highlight of his career just to associate with them for even one day? Sure, I'm lucky. Who wouldn't consider it an honor to have known Jacob Ruppert? Also, the builder of baseball's greatest empire, Ed Barrow? To have spent six years with that wonderful little fellow, Miller Huggins? Then to have spent the next nine years with that outstanding leader, that smart student of psychology, the best manager in baseball today, Joe McCarthy? Sure, I'm lucky.

 

When the New York Giants, a team you would give your right arm to beat, and vice versa, sends you a gift - that's something. When everybody down to the groundskeepers and those boys in white coats remember you with trophies - that's something. When you have a wonderful mother-in-law who takes sides with you in squabbles with her own daughter - that's something. When you have a father and a mother who work all their lives so you can have an education and build your body - it's a blessing. When you have a wife who has been a tower of strength and shown more courage than you dreamed existed - that's the finest I know.

 

So I close in saying that I may have had a tough break, but I have an awful lot to live for.

[BleacherBadger]

My Favorite Bob Uecker quotes...

 

"If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way I always had something to talk about during the winter."

 

"The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud."

 

"Career highlights? I had two. I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets."

 

"Sure, women sportswriters look when they're in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word?"

 

"The highlight of my career? In '67 with St. Louis, I walked with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run in an intersquad game in spring training."

 

"Baseball hasn't forgotten me. I go to a lot of Old-Timers games and I haven't lost a thing. I sit in the bullpen and let people throw things at me. Just like old times."

[CubbieBum]

"aasdh weguas wuaubsu." Harry Carey

 

Ok in seriousnesws here on some good Harry Carey quotes ...

 

"It could be, it might be, It is! A home run!"

 

"Holy cow!"

 

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

[Jehrico]

"aasdh weguas wuaubsu." Harry Carey

 

Ok in seriousnesws here on some good Harry Carey quotes ...

 

"It could be, it might be, It is! A home run!"

 

"Holy cow!"

 

"Aw, how could he (Jorge Orta) lose the ball in the sun, he's from Mexico."

"Candy Maldonado's last name pronounced backwards is Odanodlam."

 

Or, from a younger Harry Caray: "It's going back, way back, it could be, it would be, and its..........caught by the second baseman."

[ter]

When asked as a manager if he ever listens to the fans, Bobby Valentine said...

 

"If I did everything the fans want me to do, next year I'd be sitting in the stands with them."

[AlwaysaCub]

From Harry:

 

"How is a momma bear on the pill like the World Series?

No Cubs"

[Brian]

"Chicago Cubs baseball is on the air!" - Pat Hughes

[ELCABALLO45]

I love listening to Ben Sheet talk, he usually says something funny. Here are a few of my fav quotes from him.

 

About trading for OF Carlos Lee

 

"Well, it will be really good to finally have someone hitting behind me for protection."

 

They showed him his one hit he had in 2005 I belive in Colorado(a weak grounder that got by the 1st baseman) and this is what he said

 

"Well its Coors field and thats a tough place to hit, the suns in your eyes and the air's pretty thick so you got to be ready for something nasty. I was just really locked in that day, I got a good piece of the ball I thought it had a chance to go out of the park..... But the ball was not carrying to 2nd base that day"

 

During the 1st broadcast of 2007 Brain Anderson (Brewers PBP)

 

"Ben's just happy to have a batting average"

 

Besides Ben Sheets

 

"If I'd just tried for them dinky singles I could've batted around .600." - Babe Ruth

 

"After I hit a home run I had a habit of running the bases with my head down. I figured the pitcher already felt bad enough without me showing him up rounding the bases." - Mickey Mantle

 

"The designated hitter rule is like letting someone else take Wilt Chamberlain's free throws." - Former MLB pitcher Rick Wise

 

"Let's play two." - Ernie Banks

 

"Greg Maddux could put a baseball through a life saver if you asked him." - Joe Morgan

 

"He makes it look easy[Maddux]. You wish there was another league he could get called up to." - Dwight Gooden

 

Bob Uecker Quotes

 

"I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture."

 

"In 1962 I was named Minor League Player of the Year. It was my second season in the bigs."

 

"When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team's dugout and they were already in street clothes."

 

"Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products

[AR-Baseball-Fan]

Aw, how could he lose the ball in the sun? He's from Mexico. Harry Caray

[Laura]

Chicago Cubs fans are 90% scar tissue -- George Will