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Great Baseball Quotes
Hank Aaron-"My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging."
Hank Aaron-"I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That's when you've got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing's a joke to me. I don't feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face."
Jim Abbott-"I loved throwing a baseball. It is so important to find something in life you feel crazy about. Because you are so passionate you naturally practice. The hard work that it takes to do something well will come easily."
Richie Allen-"Baserunning is an art and a skill. If I'm on second, one ball on the batter, I'm going to try and get a big lead to distract the pitcher. My job is to help get ball two. Now the pitcher's got to throw a strike. Batter knows that. I know that. He's in a position to get good wood on the ball. He gets a single, I score. That's good baserunning."
Sparky Anderson-"Those of us lucky enough to be part of the game have a tremendous responsibility — we're charged with giving back to the game all the good things the game has given us."
Ernie Banks-"Awards mean a lot, but they don't say it all. The people in baseball mean more to me than statistics."
Ernie Banks-"The only way to prove you're a good sport is to lose."
Johnny Bench-"Slumps are like a soft bed. They're easy to get into and hard to get out of."
Craig Biggio-"I don't think anybody's bigger than the game. We're all very fortunate to wear our uniforms. As baseball players, we owe everything to the game; the game doesn't owe us anything."
Bobby Bonilla-"Kids today are looking for idols, but sometimes they look too far... They don't have to look any farther than their home because those are the people that love you. They are the real heroes."
George Brett-"I don't think I can play any other way but all out. I enjoy the game so much because I'm putting so much into it."
Jim Bouton-"You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball, and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time."
Roy Campanella-"I never want to quit playing ball. They’ll have to cut this uniform off of me to get me out of it."
Roberto Clemente-"Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow's game."
Roberto Clemente-"When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth."
Ty Cobb-"Speed is a great asset; but it's greater when it's combined with quickness - and there's a big difference."
Ty Cobb-"Every great batter works on the theory that the pitcher is more afraid of him than he is of the pitcher."
Richard Cardinal Cushing-"DEAR GOD, help me be a good sport in the game of life. I don't ask for an easy place in the lineup. Put me anywhere you need me. I only ask that I can give you 100% of everything I have. If all the hard drives seem to come my way, I thank you for the compliment. Help me to remember that you never send a player more trouble then he can handle with your help… And help me, Lord, to accept the bad breaks as part of the game. May I always play on the square no matter what others do…Help me study…THE BOOK so I'll know the rules… Finally, God, if the natural turn of events goes against me and I am benched for sickness or old age, help me accept that as a part of the game, too. Keep me from whimpering that I was framed or that I got a raw deal. And when I finish the final inning, I ask for no laurels; all I want is to believe in my heart, I played as well as I could and that I didn't let you down. Amen..."
Andre Dawson-"I didn't play this game with this goal in mind, but I'm living proof that if you love this game, the game will love you back."
Dizzy Dean-"It puzzles me how they know what corners are good for filling stations. Just how did they know gas and oil was under there?"
Bob Feller-"Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday's success or put its failures behind and start over again. That's the way life is, with a new game every day, and that's the way baseball is."
Nellie Fox-"If a ballplayer is satisfied, he's going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve."
Lou Gehrig-"The ballplayer who loses his head, who can't keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all."
Bob Gibson-"I guess I was never much in awe of anybody. I think you have to have that attitude if you're going to go far in this game."
Whitey Herzog-"What counts aren't the number of double plays, but the ones you should have had and missed."
Rogers Hornsby-"I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it."
Rogers Hornsby-"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."
Miller Huggins-"A good catcher is the quarterback, the carburetor, the lead dog, the pulse taker, the traffic cop and sometimes a lot of unprintable things, but no team gets very far without one."
Shoeless Joe Jackson-"When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base anyway I could, whether by hitting or by getting hit."
Reggie Jackson-"A baseball swing is a very finely tuned instrument. It is repetition, and more repetition, then a little more after that."
Derek Jeter-"You gotta have fun. Regardless of how you look at it, we're playing a game. It's a business, it's our job, but I don't think you can do well unless you're having fun."
Bill Klem-"The best umpired game is the game in which the fans cannot recall the umpires who worked it."
Sandy Koufax-"I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it."
Tommy Lasorda-"There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens."
Greg Maddux-"I could probably throw harder if I wanted, but why? When they're in a jam, a lot of pitchers...try to throw harder. Me, I try to locate better."
Mickey Mantle-"A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide."
Mickey Mantle-"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."
Gene Mauch-"I want everybody to feel he has a chance to get into a game when he comes to the ballpark. I play guys when I want to so they'll be ready when I have to. I don't consider myself a motivator of players. I think it's an insult to a ballplayer to have to be motivated."
Willie Mays-"In order to excel, you must be completely dedicated to your chosen sport. You must also be prepared to work hard and be willing to accept destructive criticism. Without 100 percent dedication, you won't be able to do this."
Tim McCarver-"I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the batter, that the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit."
Joe Morgan-"A good base stealer should make the whole infield jumpy. Whether you steal or not, you're changing the rhythm of the game. If the pitcher is concerned about you, he isn't concentrating enough on the batter."
Satchel Paige-"Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don't move."
Satchel Paige-"Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don't pray when it rains if you don't pray when the sun shines."
PeeWee Reese-"If I had my career to play over, one thing I'd do differently is swing more. Those 1,200 walks I got, nobody remembers them."
Babe Ruth-"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."
Nolan Ryan-"One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something."
Mike Schmidt-"Any time you think you have the game conquered the game will turn around and punch you right in the nose."
Tom Seaver-"A good professional athlete must have the love of a little boy. And the good players feel the kind of love for the game that they did when they were Little Leaguers."
Tom Seaver-"In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end."
Warren Spahn-"Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing."
Warren Spahn-"A pitcher needs two pitches, one they're looking for and one to cross them up."
Casey Stengel-"Most ball games are lost, not won."
Luis Tiant-"The fastball is the best pitch in baseball. It's like having five pitches, if you move it around."
Earl Weaver-"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals, and three run homers."
Ted Williams-"Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game."
Ted Williams-"Think. Don't just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who's up next. Think."
Carl Yastrzemski-"I was lucky enough to have the talent to play baseball. That's how I treated my career. I didn't think I was anybody special, anybody different."
Barry Zito-"I'm not trying to be cocky, but I set such a high standard for myself. I'm not happy when I pitch seven innings and give up two runs and get a win."
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