Favorite Baseball Quote(s)

[Clem Fandango]

StumbledUpon a new article with some quotes I haven't seen before...

 

- Earl Weaver, after one of his born-again Christian players asked if the Baltimore manager wanted to walk with God: "I'd rather walk with the bases loaded."

 

- Pittsburgh outfielder Steve Kemp: "The only people in the U.S. who had a worse night than me died."

 

- After 10 years, John Watham was released by the Royals. Moments later, he was named a team coach. Asked about his new position: "The game has changed a lot since I played.

 

- Joaquin Andujar, Pluto-circling pitcher: "Baseball can be summed up by one word: `You never know.'"

 

- Yogi Berra, famed malapropist: "This is the earliest I've been late."

And, shaking hands with Ernest Hemingway after being introduced to the author: "What paper you write for, Ernie?"

 

- Submarine relief pitcher Dan Quisenberry: "Most pitchers fear losing their fastball, and since I don't have one, the only thing I have to fear is fear itself."

 

- Boston pitcher Bob Stanley, upset over a local newspaper story: "I'm going to cancel my prescription."

 

- Reds pitcher Clay Carroll to teammate Pedro Borbon: "Hey, Pedro, how do you say `adios' in Spanish?"

 

- Jerry Willard, Cleveland catcher, told Minnesota had won a doubleheader: "Who won the first game?"

 

- Chicago coach Don Zimmer when asked, upon regaining consciousness after taking a fall, who was president before Ronald Reagan: "I don't know. I didn't know before I fell either."

 

- Jerry Coleman, voice of the Padres: "Rick Folkers is throwing up in the bullpen."

Also from Coleman: "There's a fly ball deep to centre field. Winfield is going back, back. He hits his head against the wall. It's rolling back toward second base. This is a terrible thing for the Padres."

 

- Lefty Gomez, when New York papers called him a holdout because he'd asked the Yankees for more money: "That isn't true. The Yankees are the holdouts. I asked first."

 

- Bobby Cox, after a wind-blown triple with the bases loaded caused the Blue Jays to lose Game 7 in the 1985 American League championship series: "It wasn't experience that beat us. It was the wind. That and the fact that our bats went south on us and we are north.''

 

- Rocky Bridges, infielder: "I know what the word `media' means. It's plural for `medio-cre.'"

 

- Tug McGraw, queried whether he preferred grass or Astroturf: "I dunno. I never smoked any Astroturf."

 

- And, for the sheer Zen of it, this exchange between a reporter and Cincinnati outfielder Alex Johnson:

Reporter: "You hit only two home runs all last year, and already you've hit seven this year. What's the difference?''

Johnson: "Five."

[TruffleShuffle]

"[expletive] those fuckin' fans who come out here and say they're Cub fans that are supposed to be behind you rippin' every ' thing you do. I'll tell you one fuckin' thing, I hope we get fuckin' hotter than [expletive], just to stuff it up them 3,000 fuckin' people that show up every fuckin' day, because if they're the real Chicago fuckin' fans, they can kiss my fuckin' ass right downtown and PRINT IT.

 

"They're really, really behind you around here... my fuckin' ass. What the [expletive] am I supposed to do, go out there and let my fuckin' players get destroyed every day and be quiet about it? For the fuckin' nickel-dime people who turn up? The [expletive] don't even work. That's why they're out at the fuckin' game. They oughta go out and get a fuckin' job and find out what it's like to go out and earn a fuckin' living. Eighty-five percent of the fuckin' world is working. The other fifteen percent come out here. A fuckin' playground for the cocksuckers. Rip them [expletive]. Rip them fuckin' cocksuckers like the fuckin' players. we got guys bustin' their fuckin' ass, and them fuckin' people boo. And that's the Cubs? My players get around here. I haven't seen it this fuckin' year. Everybody associated with this organization have been winners their whole fuckin' life. Everybody. And the credit is not given in that respect.

 

"Alright, they don't show because we're 5 and 14... and unfortunately, that's the criteria of them dumb 15 motherf***in' percent that come out to day baseball. The other 85 percent are earning a living. I tell you, it'll take more than a 5 and 12 or 5 and 14 to destroy the makeup of this club. I guarantee you that. There's some fuckin' pros out there that wanna win. But you're stuck in a fuckin' stigma of the fuckin' Dodgers and the Phillies and the Cardinals and all that cheap [expletive]. It's unbelievable. It really is. It's a disheartening fuckin' situation that we're in right now. Anybody who was associated with the Cub organization four or five years ago that came back and sees the multitude of progress that's been made will understand that if they're baseball people, that 5 and 14 doesn't negate all that work. We got 143 fuckin' games left.

 

"What I'm tryin' to say is don't rip them fuckin' guys out there. Rip me. If you wanna rip somebody, rip my fuckin' ass. But don't rip them fuckin' guys 'cause they're givin' everything they can give. And right now they're tryin' to do more than God gave 'em, and that's why we make the simple mistakes. That's exactly why."

[MembersOnlyJacket]

"Power guys like Giambi and Dunn have always had high OPS because no one wants to pitch to them. But it takes two hits to score them from first." - Harold Reynolds

 

"Who's been the champions the last seven, eight years? ...Have you ever heard the Yankees talk about on-base percentage and walks? Walks help. But you ain't going to walk across the plate. You're going to hit across the plate. That's the school I come from." - Dusty Baker

 

"The statistical analysis is something to factor in... When you see a guy in the dugout day in and day out or you're at every game, like we are, you know whether a guy can help you when it counts or not. We're probably more of the old, pure, go by our scouts, go by our coaches, go by our manager's gut feeling and try to make the right decisions." - Jim Hendry, Cubs

[NonProfitCow]

"Hey, dawg. It's on, dawg. You dead, dawg. I ain't even bulls-------. Your kids too, dawg. It don't even matter to me who is in the car with you. N-----, all I know is, n-----, when I see your m-----f------- a-- riding, dawg, it's on. As a matter of fact, I'm coming to your m-----f------ house."

 

Elijah Dukes

[wekse]

"excellent."

 

bill & ted

[laurens]

"Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!!!"

 

Pat Hughes after a Cubs walk-off win.

[Ball And Glove]

The genius that is Ned Yost:

 

"It's not a big deal. For eight months a year, we're a family. At times things happen, flare up, but it's between the family. It's in the family. It's a little bit rude when your neighbors are fighting next door for you to go knock on the door and ask what happened. We handle it ourselves. It's between us and it's nobody's business. But it wasn't that big a deal."

 

:banghead:

[erik316wttn]

"Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!!!"

 

Pat Hughes after a Cubs walk-off win.

 

Always my favorite quote.

 

One of my other favorites:

 

A reporter once asked Casey Stengel "How do you feel about the execution of your team?" Stengel quipped "I'm in favor of it."

[Fred Hornkohl]

"Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!!!"

 

Pat Hughes after a Cubs walk-off win.

 

Always my favorite quote.

 

One of my other favorites:

 

A reporter once asked Casey Stengel "How do you feel about the execution of your team?" Stengel quipped "I'm in favor of it."

 

It should be pointed out that the team in question was the '62 Mets, eh?

[erik316wttn]

"Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!!!"

 

Pat Hughes after a Cubs walk-off win.

 

Always my favorite quote.

 

One of my other favorites:

 

A reporter once asked Casey Stengel "How do you feel about the execution of your team?" Stengel quipped "I'm in favor of it."

 

It should be pointed out that the team in question was the '62 Mets, eh?

 

Yes, it was.

 

Stengel's Mets quotes are better than most Yogi quotes, IMO.

[str8carter]

After being knocked out cold by a thrown ball the next days headline: " Xrays of Dean's head show nothing."

[hossdriver]

The Knuckleball

 

Bob Uecker, on the best way to catch it:

"Wait'll it stops rolling, then go pick it up."

 

...and on the benefits of catching it:

"I met a lot of important people. They all sit behind home plate."

 

...and a strikeout play:

"(Phil) Niekro struck out a hitter once and I never touched the ball. It hit me in the shinguard, bounced out to Clete Boyer at third base and he threw out the runner at first. Talk about a weird assist: 2-5-3 on a strikeout."

[Friendly Confines]

Greatest thread ever?

[OleMissCub]

Greatest thread ever?

 

not even close :-)

 

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=49159

[Friendly Confines]

Greatest thread ever?

 

not even close :-)

 

http://www.northsidebaseball.com/Forum/viewtopic.php?f=29&t=49159

 

Well, maybe the greatest thread is actually the Brian Roberts one. What was the final page count there?

 

I suppose I should contribute some quotes I guess..

 

When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say, "Play ball." ~Willie Stargell, 1981

 

It's hard to win a pennant, but it's harder losing one. ~Chuck Tanner

[Roast]

"It would be difficult to conceive a finer example of true sport" - Calvin Coolidge

 

"Baseball is the greatest of American games. Some say football, but it is my firm belief, and it shall always be, that baseball has no superior..I have not attended very many big games, but I don't believe you can find a more ardent follower of baseball than myself... as a day seldom passes when I do not read the sporting pages of the newspaper. In this way I keep a close tab on the two major leagues and there was one time when I could name the players of every club in both leagues."

-- Thomas Edison

 

Two other real good ones.

[Roast]

Oh, and then there's this speech Dick Durbin gave to the House in 1989:

 

"Mr. Speaker, I rise to condemn the desecration of a great American symbol. No, I am not referring to flag burning, I am referring to the baseball bat. Several experts tell us that the wooden baseball bat is doomed to extinction, that major league baseball players will soon be standing at home plate with aluminum bats in their hands. Baseball fans have been forced to endure countless indignities by those who just cannot leave well enough alone. Designated hitters, plastic grass, uniforms that look like pajamas, chicken clowns dancing on the baselines, and of course the most heinous sacrilege, lights in Wrigley Field. Are we willing to hear the crack of a bat replaced by the dinky ping? Are we ready to see the Louisville Slugger replaced by the aluminum ping dinger? Is nothing sacred? Please do not tell me that wooden bats are too expensive, when players who cannot hit their weight are being paid more money than the president of the United States. Please, do not try to sell me on the notion that these metal clubs will make better hitters. What is next? Teflon baseballs? Radar-enhanced gloves? I ask you. I do not want to hear about saving trees. Any tree in America would gladly give its life for the glory of a day at home plate. I do not know if it will take a constitutional amendment to keep the baseball traditions alive, but if we forsake the great Americana of broken-bat singles and pine tar, we will have certainly lost our way as a nation."

 

-Dick Durbin

[Roast]

More...

 

Both of these are by Joe Dugan on Babe Ruth:

 

"Born? Hell, Babe Ruth wasn't born. He fell from a tree"

 

"To understand him you had to understand this: He wasn't human."

 

 

And some more for fun:

 

"I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me...but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch."

--Ty Cobb

 

"I regret to this day that I never went to college. I feel I should have been a doctor"

-- Cobb, again.

 

"I sometimes have to file my nails between innings"

--Joe Niekro after being suspended for having said file.

 

"Ruth made a grave mistake when he gave up pitching. Working once a week, he might have lasted a long time and become a great star."

- Tris Speaker in 1921

 

And finally (for now) a few from Casey Stengel:

 

"Don't cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself."

--What he allegedly said to his barber.

 

"Been in this game a hundred years, but I see new ways to lose 'em I never knew existed before."

-- While managing the Mets

 

"I have no hobbies. Most of my off-season time is taken up with baseball business. If it isn't, I'd quit and get out of the game. Baseball is my very life, my one consuming interest"

 

"Say, I've got a tip on the market for you fellows. Buy Pennsylvania Railroad, because by tomorrow night about a dozen of you bums will be on it, riding in all directions."

- To his 1921 Toledo Mud Hens after an extraordinarily shameful defeat when he found them in the clubhouse studying the financial pages. The team apparently had lots of former major leaguers who had invested their money in stock.

[Derwood]

sorry, the greatest thread was the Nomar thread on 7/31/04

[Fred Hornkohl]

Greatest thread ever?

 

not even close :-)

 

viewtopic.php?f=29&t=49159

 

Not a bit biased there, are we OleMiss ??

[Outshined_One]

"Cubs win! Cubs win! Cubs win!!!"

 

Pat Hughes after a Cubs walk-off win.

 

Always my favorite quote.

 

One of my other favorites:

 

A reporter once asked Casey Stengel "How do you feel about the execution of your team?" Stengel quipped "I'm in favor of it."

 

I thought John McKay said that about the Buccanneers' offense?

[Ski]

Copying the knuckleball quote page from wikipedia:

 

* "You don't catch a knuckleball, you defend against it." ― Dodgers manager and former catcher Joe Torre

* "Trying to hit against Phil Niekro is like trying to eat Jell-O with chopsticks". ― All-star outfielder Bobby Murcer

* "I never worry about it. I just take my three swings and go sit on the bench. I'm afraid if I ever think about hitting it, I'll mess up my swing for life." ― All-star first baseman Dick Allen

* "If cricket players can play spin, I don't see why baseball players can't play knuckleball" . - Senior Baseball Analyst Bhavik Mehta

* "I always thought the knuckleball was the easiest pitch to catch. Wait'll it stops rolling, then go to the backstop and pick it up." ― broadcaster and former catcher Bob Uecker

* "There are two theories on hitting a knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them works." ― famed hitting coach Charlie Lau

* "You know, catching the knuckleball, it's like trying to catch a fly with a chopstick." ― All-star and Gold Glove catcher Jason Varitek

* "If it's high, let it fly. If it's low, let it go." ―Common saying describing how to approach hitting the knuckleball.

* "Throwing a knuckleball for a strike is like throwing a butterfly with hiccups across the street into your neighbor's mailbox." ― Hall of Famer Willie Stargell

* "For a knuckleballer, a pitch count of 150 is not a problem. Unless it's the first inning." ― Dave Clark, author of The Knucklebook

* "Like some cult religion that barely survives, there has always been at least one but rarely more than five or six devotees throwing the knuckleball in the big leagues... Not only can't pitchers control it, hitters can't hit it, catchers can't catch it, coaches can't coach it, and most pitchers can't learn it. The perfect pitch." ― Ron Luciano, former AL umpire

* "Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork." ― Richie Hebner

* "You're not expected to hit it. [i am] expected to catch it." ― John Flaherty summing up his day catching Tim Wakefield in a spring training game against the Twins by relaying a comment made by fellow catcher Mike Redmond. Flaherty retired the next day.

* "Knuckleballs suck." ― Geno Petralli after giving up four passed balls in one inning

[Roast]

"Hitting Niekro's knuckleball is like eating soup with a fork." ― Richie Hebner

 

[BigSlick]

it'll be a sad day when Wakefield retires

 

hopefully someone (R.A. Dickey? ) can take up his mantle because I really don't want to see the knuckleball disappear from the majors forever

 

edit: Crap I didn't realize he was as old as he was. This blows.