Quotes About Baseball

I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo.

You aren't going to stick around long with just two pitches.

I used to collect autographs outside of the old Cleveland Stadium. I can still remember everyone who took the time and spent a few minutes to make your day. That sticks with you.

Baseball has better opening days and All-Star Games than the N.F.L. does. Ours stink.

When I was a freshman in high school, I got a letterman jacket, which you'd think would be great stock. The jacket had the big S on it, for Santa Monica. But rather than having a football or a baseball on the S, I had a little nine iron. Girls thought it was a flute.

People say I stole a lot of bases. I stole the bases for a reason. I crossed the plate.

If you ask me if I got hit in Game 7 because they stole signs, I don't think so. The Astros have great players who don't have to do that. So I think that whether or not they stole signs, the results wouldn't have changed.

I even steal bases. I hear all the time that I'm slow, but hey, I have 66 stolen bases.

I don't care that much about stolen bases. So when I steal and a guy fouls a pitch off, for me it's not that frustrating.

When you allow stolen bases, that changes the game.

My mom's always asking me for hits and stolen bases and home runs and different things on Mother's Day and her birthday.

I focus on what I can do in this game. I don't have speed. I'm not a guy who can have a stolen base. I wish I could, but I can't.

If a stolen base is there based on a pitcher's time to the plate, then steal a bag.

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.

I'm not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference.

The story of Jackie Robinson is also the story of Branch Rickey. He had many reasons for doing what he did, but he stood up against his own people.

The fellows that I played with encouraged me to bunt and beat the ball out. I was anxious to make good and did as I was told. When I came to Brooklyn, I adopted an altogether different style of hitting. I stood flat-footed at the plate and slugged. That was my natural style.

If the people don't want to come out to the ballpark, nobody's going to stop them.

But when I stopped facing Sandy, I had to face Don Drysdale. No one on my team wanted to face him.

He stopped everything behind the plate and hit everything in front of it.

The day I left baseball, I became smart. When I was in baseball, I played for the love of the game. I'd sign any contract they gave me. But then I stopped playing and began doing interviews with the players at the ball park. I began to see the light.

I used to go to the comic store all the time. I was into comic cards, which are essentially baseball cards for comic book heroes. They have these cool stats on the back. I had collections of these things. I still have a lot of my collection at home.

Gosh, all a kid has to do these days is spit straight and he gets forty-thousand dollars to sign.

You know, I spent parts of six seasons in the minor leagues and I dealt with some injuries there, I saw a lot of things. I had the safety net of being a first-round pick, so I didn't maybe necessarily experience some of that hardship firsthand, but I watched it break a lot of guys. The strain that it puts on you and your family, it's really tough.