Quotes About Baseball

Only God knows why I didn't make it with the Mets, but yes, in a short period of time, I got the opportunity with the Phillies.

I knew that the Mets had never had a no-hitter. I never had one. This is very special. I knew this means a lot to New York.

I like the Mets. I'm interested in the Mets.

I wish that they had the freedoms like the Japanese and the Koreans and the Mexicans and everybody else that has that freedom to come over here and play the game, because I know Cuba has a very strong baseball history.

All through Miami, the guys who grew up with me hitting at the place I hit, they all call me Flaco. Nobody calls me J.D. It's like, 'Hey, Flaco.'

I grew up in Miami watching baseball down there, so you could see it from one extreme to the next. It was like, 'Well, this is what baseball is about.'

I love Mickey Mantle. Would I have felt the same if I had known when I was eight years old what I know now?

Starting in middle school, I would play on two or three baseball teams at the same time, because that's just how things worked in south Florida. I would practice six or seven days each week. I honestly don't know how my parents did it, but my dad always found a way to make it to each and every game.

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

I was Mike Schmidt without any of the power.

One of my best friends, James Miller, managed to find the only Cubs hat that is all red.

I feel very fortunate to have broken in with the Milwaukee Braves organization.

It's definitely different than living in Los Angeles or Miami Beach, but Milwaukee is still a great city in its own right. As far as the baseball goes, it's been everything and more than I thought it was going to be.

My father was an outfielder in the Milwaukee system before he hurt his elbow.

The great hitters use the whole field, and that's a goal of mine.

Mine was an easy ride compared to Jackie Robinson's.

I don't know how the 'Richie' started. My name is Richard, and they called me Dick in the minor leagues.

My message to a lot of guys is, if you like school and you like education, baseball is gonna be there, and you can get some of the same great competition in college that you do in the low minor leagues.

Every college player thinks they're on their way. But, delusions aside, I might have toiled in the minor leagues for a bit.

I played good ball in the minor leagues, and that's why they called me up to the major leagues.

I kept listening in the minor leagues, and even earlier than that, people would say, 'If you don't hit the fastball, you're not going to get to the big leagues.' Every game, you're going to get a fastball.

The pay in the minor leagues, I think it's terrible, it's disgusting, it's exploitative.

I played right field in Minor Leagues a lot before I started playing centerfield.

When I was growing up, I always had the dream of being an analyst for a minor league baseball team or something like that.