Baseball Quotes

[brob28]

I was looking through some photos from my trip to Cooperstown last year and found this of a quote from Casey Stengel. Let's see your favorite baseball quotes.

[Paul S]

"It ain't over until it's over" - Yogi

[Wite3]

Tommy Lasorda has many many great quotes but my favorite all time was given about Darryl Strawberry after his first season in L.A. He was awful and a huge disappointment to Dodger fans. A reporter asked Tommy something about Darryl dogging it in the outfield...

"He is not a dog; a dog is loyal and runs after balls."

Joshua

[wolf441]

My favorite isn't a quote, it's a rant by Cubs manager Lee Elia lashing out at Cuns fans on April 29, 1983. In honor of the 30 year annivesary:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8S0CDtEz_Bo

[Tobacco&Gum]

"Hit 'em where they ain't"

-Wee Willie Keeler

[Hot Springs Bathers]

Former Red Sox pitcher Frank Sullivan on how he faced Mickey Mantle; "With tears in my eyes."

[pawpawdiv9]

"When I'm hitting, I'd play for nothing. When I'm not, any kind of money I receive
makes me feel as if I'm stealing." Mickey Mantle

[brob28]

Joshua, that Lasorda quote is priceless!

[Peter_Spaeth]

Pete Rose -- I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.

Reggie Jackson on Tom Seaver -- He's so good, blind people come to the park to hear him pitch.

Anonymous batter protesting after striking out looking on three pitches against Walter Johnson -- the third one sounded low.

Writer about Lefty Grove -- he was so fast he could throw a lambchop past a wolf.

Pitcher I don't remember about Hank Aaron -- trying to get a fastball by him is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.

Babe Ruth on justifying his higher salary than Herbert Hoover -- I had a better year than he did.

Willie Stargell on hitting against Sandy Koufax -- it was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.

Sal Maglie on why he threw two consecutive pitches at a batter's head -- to show him the first one wasn't a mistake.

[Peter_Spaeth]

My favorite is probably John Updike explaining why Ted Williams did not come out of the dugout to acknowledge the cheering after homering after his last pitch -- Gods do not answer letters.

[veloce]

Roger Craig on catcher Choo-Choo Coleman's baseball smarts:

"Choo-Choo would give you the sign and then look down to see what it was."

[Peter_Spaeth]

Bob Gibson to Tim McCarver after McCarver told him after a game that there was a colored guy waiting to see him: What color is he?

[HRBAKER]

Bob Gibson to Tim McCarver upon his approach to the mound to talk to Gibson, "What are you doing out here? The only thing you know about pitching is you can't hit it!"

[HercDriver]

My favorite Mark Grace story:

One day Rick Sutcliffe gave up back-to-back home runs in Cincinnati. And in Cincinnati, they shoot off fireworks after a Red hits a home run. And Sutcliffe was pretty intense on the day he pitched. So Eric Davis takes him deep and Paul O'Neill takes him deep right after that. So Sutcliffe is all pissed off, and Billy Connors comes out to the mound and Sutcliffe yells at him, "I know I gave up f---ing back-to-back home runs and get your f---ing ass back in the dugout and tell Zimmer to f---ing settle down there, too."

Billy looks at him and says, "I know you have everything under control, Rick. I just wanted to give that guy running the fireworks a little time to reload."

Cheers,
Geno

[Peter_Spaeth]

Bob Gibson to a reporter after being asked why, as a BATTING PRACTICE pitcher for the Braves, he had dusted off a batter: He was crowding the plate.

[HRBAKER]

Originally Posted by HercDriver

My favorite Mark Grace story:

One day Rick Sutcliffe gave up back-to-back home runs in Cincinnati. And in Cincinnati, they shoot off fireworks after a Red hits a home run. And Sutcliffe was pretty intense on the day he pitched. So Eric Davis takes him deep and Paul O'Neill takes him deep right after that. So Sutcliffe is all pissed off, and Billy Connors comes out to the mound and Sutcliffe yells at him, "I know I gave up f---ing back-to-back home runs and get your f---ing ass back in the dugout and tell Zimmer to f---ing settle down there, too."

Billy looks at him and says, "I know you have everything under control, Rick. I just wanted to give that guy running the fireworks a little time to reload."

Cheers,
Geno

I've never heard that one but it is classic!

[Sean]

Reggie Jackson, explaining the importance of hitting well if you play 1st base, 3rd base, right or left field:
"If you want to stand on the corner, you have to lean on the pole."

[Cardboard Junkie]

Another from Yogi..."Swing at the strikes".

[uffda51]

More Choo Choo - Ralph Kiner interviewed Choo Choo Coleman in 1962, and asked, “What’s your wife’s name, and what’s she like?” Coleman replied, “Her name is Mrs. Coleman — and she likes me."

[Peter_Spaeth]

Chico Escuela -- Baseball been berry berry good to me.

[Nashvol]

As related by former Milwaukee Brewers pitcher Jerry Bell, walking from the mound to the dugout upon being relieved after walking Harmon Killebrew:

Bell: "Ump, that last pitch to Killebrew looked like a strike to me."

Umpire: "Son, Mr. Killebrew will let you know when it's a strike."

[botn]

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." - Jackie Robinson

[rdwyer]

Tom Hanks: There's no crying in baseball.

[digdugdig]

Mike Flanagan - "I never could play in New York. The first time I ever came into a game there, I got into the bullpen car and they told me to lock the doors."
"You know you're having a bad game when the ground crew goes out and drags the warning track."

Claude Osteen - "I'm not sure which is more insulting, being offered in a trade or having it turned down."

Hank Aaron - "It took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball. I did it in one afternoon at the golf course."

Richie Ashburn (on playing the '62 Mets) "I don't know what's going on, but I know I've never seen it before."

Early Wynn - "The first thing I do when I get up in the morning is breathe on a mirror and hope it fogs."

Mickey Lolich - "All the fat guys watch me and say to their wives, 'See? There's a fat guy doing okay. Bring me another beer'."

Johnny Pesky - "When you win, you eat better, sleep better, and your beer tastes better. And your wife looks like Gina Lollabrigida."

Stan Hack (his home town) - "It's so small, we don't even have a town drunk, everybody has to take a turn."

[brob28]

One more:

Dick Allen being interviewed about how he hits a knukleball pitcher: "I take three swings and go sit on the bench"

[mybuddyinc]

Upon being told the amount of his fine for spitting at an umpire:

"It was a little more than I expectorated" ---- Frenchy Bordagaray




George Stallings supposed last words (falling to an unknown illness):

"Bases on balls, you idiot, bases on balls is the cause of all of this ....."





OT: on the morbid last words thought: Stanley Ketchell's supposed last words after being shot in the back by a jealous man:

"I'm so tired, just take me home to Mother"

[EvilKing00]

Originally Posted by Wite3

Tommy Lasorda has many many great quotes but my favorite all time was given about Darryl Strawberry after his first season in L.A. He was awful and a huge disappointment to Dodger fans. A reporter asked Tommy something about Darryl dogging it in the outfield...

"He is not a dog; a dog is loyal and runs after balls."

Joshua

omg thats great, never heard that one. im a huge et fan as well as love Darryl but he never did like busting it to catch a ball.


Here is a funny one all mets fans will remember - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fz15iZfnTtI

[cardinalcollector]

Bob Uecker:

"I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three-thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up."

[tedzan]

Satchell Paige is known for saying quite a number of "Paige-isms. Here is one of his well known quotes......

"Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you."







TED Z

[deadballfreaK]

In a rather confusing play Babe Herman hit a ball off the wall with the bases loaded and the Dodgers wound up with three men on 3rd base. Dazzy Vance who had somehow failed to score from 2nd was diving back into third with Chick Fewster standing on the bag already and Herman sliding in thinking he was getting a triple. While the umpires were trying to figure it out, Vance made a speech, "Mr. Umpire, fellow teammates, and members of the opposition. If you carefully peruse the rules of our national pastime you will find that there is one and only one protagonist in rightful occupation of this hassock - namely yours truly, Arthur C. Vance". And he was right. The other two were out.

[Cardboard Junkie]

"you're gonna get the mcgwire...".

[deadballfreaK]

Goose Goslin - "I truly loved those fastballs. Zip they'd come in, and whack .. right back out."

Al Bridwell on getting the hit that set off the whole "Merkle Boner" incident: " I wish I had never gotten that hit. I wish I'd struck out instead. If I had done that it would have spared Fred a lot of unfair humiliation. Yes, I wish I'd struck out. It would have been better all around."

For some reason a reporter asked the opposing pitcher before a World Series game how he would pitch to Gus Niarhos who was hardly a threat at the plate: "We'll probably throw him fastballs and bunch him towards the mound."

[auggiedoggy]

Any Yogi Berra quote works for me!

On why he no longer went to Ruggeri's, a St. Louis restaurant: "Nobody goes there anymore. It's too crowded."

[Rob D.]

"Guys, there's clap in the Valley."

-- Brewers minor-league director Bruce Manno, spring training 1985, Phoenix

[JollyElm]

Dick Allen about artificial turf:
"If a horse won't eat it, I don't want to play on it."

Bob Uecker:
"The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until the ball stops rolling and then to pick it up."

And then there's Yogi:
"So I'm ugly. So what? I never saw anyone hit with his face."

[howard38]

/

[Jay Wolt]

Some memorable Ty Cobb quotes...

"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."

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

"The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first.
I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault."

[Peter_Spaeth]

Ty Cobb, asked in the 1950s what he would hit if he played today: about .275. When the interviewer expressed shock, Cobb added, I am almost 70 years old.

[KCRfan1]

Dodger pitcher Jerry Reuss was in a tight ball game. Tommy Lasorda went out to the mound with the intent to pull Reuss. Of course, Reuss wanted to continue to pitch. As Lasorda and Reuss were going back and forth about his staying or going, Yeager made it to the mound. Lasorda told Reuss that he would put it to a vote and be Democratic about it. Lasorda voted to pull Reuss, Reuss naturally said he wanted to pitch. With Yeager by his side, Reuss figured he had this in the bag. Lasorda asked Yeager what he thought, and Yeager said " Shoot, I would have pulled him two innings ago ".

[deadballfreaK]

Crash Davis: Yeah, I was in the show. I was in the show for 21 days once - the 21 greatest days of my life. You know, you never handle your luggage in the show, somebody else carries your bags. It was great. You hit white balls for batting practice, the ballparks are like cathedrals, the hotels all have room service, and the women all have long legs and brains.

Your shower shoes have fungus on them. You'll never make it to the bigs with fungus on your shower shoes. Think classy, you'll be classy. If you win 20 in the show, you can let the fungus grow back and the press'll think you're colorful. Until you win 20 in the show, however, it means you are a slob.

Relax, all right? Don't try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls - it's more democratic.

Man that ball got outta here in a hurry. I mean anything travels that far oughta have a damn stewardess on it, don't you think?

[mets41]

Sparky Anderson in his HOF induction speach: "Baseball is a great game and if you don't like it GET OUT."

[jb217676]

"You can't hit what you can't see." – Walter Johnson

[gavvy]

Manager concerned over Hack Wilson's heavy drinking.

"When I put a worm in a glass of water nothing happens to it. But when I put it in a glass of whiskey it dies. What does that tell you?"

Hack's response: "That I'll never get worms from drinking whiskey."

[slidekellyslide]

"In our sun-down perambulations, of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball...Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms...the game of ball is glorious."

Walt Whitman 1846

[wolf441]

Originally Posted by slidekellyslide

"In our sun-down perambulations, of late, through the outer parts of Brooklyn, we have observed several parties of youngsters playing 'base', a certain game of ball...Let us go forth awhile, and get better air in our lungs. Let us leave our close rooms...the game of ball is glorious."

Walt Whitman 1846

+1. Love it! The beginning to Ken Burns Baseball - First Inning. Whenever I've had a stressful day at work, I throw that DVD in and it always relaxes me!!

"Age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter." Satchel Paige

[nolemmings]

A young woman commented to Yogi Berra on a sweltering day "Yogi, you look pretty cool out there", to which he responded "Thanks, you don't look so hot yourself".

[smrtn240]

mine is in my sig.

[Peter_Spaeth]

Johnny Keane, asked why he stayed with Bob Gibson in Game 7 of the World Series when he was getting shelled and on the verge of blowing a big lead: I had a commitment to his heart.

Yogi on playing left field in Yankee Stadium: It gets late early out there.

Yogi summing up his life: I never said half the things I said.

Mickey Mantle, asked by a Senate committee on his views of baseball's antirust exemption after Casey Stengel had made a typical meandering, long speech: My views are pretty much the same as Casey's.

Yogi, after Sandy Koufax, who had gone 25-5 during the season, blew away the Yankees in game 1 of the 1963 World Series: How did he lose 5?

Pete Rose, asked why on earth he was back out taking batting practice at night after going 6 for 8 in a doubleheader: They got me out twice.

Warren Spahn, interviewed after he gave up a titanic homerun to Willie Mays early in Willie's career: Gentlemen, for the first 60 feet it was a hell of a pitch.

[leaflover]

Several years ago, after a golf tournament, Tommy Lasorda was the guest speaker at our club. He started by saying.. "Well I guess you read lately about Steve Yeager crying his eyes out to the sportswriters that Mike Scioscia gets to play ahead of him because he's(Scioscia) Italian. I want you all to know that is not true. I play Scioscia ahead of Yeager because I'M ITALIAN!!"