Quotes About Baseball

Say it ain't so, Joe.

Slide, Kelly, Slide

They said you'd really have to be something to be like Babe Ruth. But Babe Ruth was an American player. What we needed was a Puerto Rican player they could say that about, someone to look up to and try to equal.

One-third of all professional baseball players come from Latin America, and Sosa is following role models such as the late Roberto Clemente, a Puerto Rican, from whom he adopted the No. 21. Now he is a model for others.

A Home Run Derby is fun. It's just like taking batting practice, and you just want to go deep. Guys do it every day. Yes, there's a little more pressure when they pull that cage back, but if you practice properly, it shouldn't affect the second half of your season at all.

I don't think facing one of your own active pitchers would be a good idea, unless I got super lucky and hit a ball through the middle or something. That would not be good. I'd pull every muscle in my body.

I'm a baseball fan. I always pulled for where the Dominican players play.

With a runner at second base with nobody out, you're trying to punch somebody out. You understand when there are guys in scoring position; hitters like to be aggressive early.

Sometimes in this game, you get punched in the face. And you've got to be able to take it and learn from it.

Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and spirit of the game.

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.

If anyone has an MiLB franchise they're looking to gift for tax purposes, I'll take it! Not picky.

Basketball was always my sport. It just took me until my second year of college for me to realize that I was a better baseball player than a basketball player. But basketball was always my number one love. Finally found out I was better at baseball and chose to pursue that route.

I take a lot of pride in growing my brand and connecting with young fans and with the reach that Lids has, with 1,200-plus locations and the amount of merchandise they sell gives me a large opportunity to reach out to fans and keep connecting and trying to grow the game of baseball. Lids has been a partner in that pursuit for a long time.

When I turned 12 or 13 years old, even as a dad, you can't make a kid play anymore, but up until that point, he pushed me to keep playing, and when I turned 13, I didn't want to do anything else. He was just there with me at the cage every day because I wanted him to go with me and throw to me and work on what I needed to work on.

I feel like everyone puts a lot of question on me, what I'm going to do offensively, but I'd like to affect the game in a lot of ways. If I can walk, I walk. If I can hit a homer, if I can bunt.

I lived the baseball life as a kid, with my dad in it. And I lived the baseball life as an adult, because I was in it. When I retired, I wanted the opportunity to be a little bit more flexible and home-based for my kids.

I like how in little league they have nine kids who play the field but we have 17 kids on the roster and all 17 kids should hit. I like that we do that down here in Florida.

Americans are analytical in their sports, which are very stop-start, so the numbers tend to add up. That's why Moneyball works for baseball. It doesn't work so well for football because it's a fluid game.

I always tried to be Mark McGwire and hit homers like he did. I was kind of following his race, too, when he was trying to break the record.

Oh, I fooled around with baseball, but I never really took it serious.

I'd be lying if I said I didn't expect to have success on the baseball field and the football field.

I was a very good baseball and football player, but my father always told me I was much more interested in how I looked playing baseball or football than in actually playing. There's great truth in that.

Having a father as a football and a baseball coach, I grew up around college baseball players, college football players, like, I just knew sports my whole life.