Quotes from Bill Veeck

Baseball is a boy's game that makes grown men cry.

People identify with the swashbuckling individuals, not polite little men who field their position well. Sir Galahad had a big following - but I'll bet Lancelot had more.

I believe in God, but I'm not too clear on the other details.

The true harbinger of spring is not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of the bat on the ball.

Suffering is overated.

I don't mind the high price of stardom. I just don't like the high price of mediocrity.

The Falstaff people, romantics all, went for it. They were so anxious to find out what I was going to do that they could hardly bear to wait out the two weeks. I was rather anxious to find out what I was going to do, too.

Look, we play the Star Spangled Banner before every game. You want us to pay income taxes, too?

Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.

The most beautiful thing in the world is a ballpark filled with people.

I try not to break the rules but merely to test their elasticity.

Hating the Yankees isn't part of my act. It is one of those exquisite times when life and art are in perfect conjunction.

I try not to kid myself. You know, I don't mind romancing someone else, but to fool yourself is pretty devastating and dangerous.

I do not think that winning is the most important thing. I think winning is the only thing.

Every baseball crowd, like every theatre audience, has its own distinctive attitude and atmosphere.

When there is no room for individualism in ballparks, then there will be no room for individualism in life.

This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.

I was in the game for love. After all, where else can an old-timer with one leg, who can't hear or see, live like a king while doing the only thing I wanted to do?

Baseball is the only thing beside the paper clip that hasn't changed

That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on the ball.

This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There's time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.

Baseball is the only game left for people. To play basketball, you have to be 7 feet 6 inches. To play football, you have to be the same width.

That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball.

I try not to break the rules, but merely to test their elasticity.