Pete Rose Quotes & Sayings

Concentration is that ability to not think about anything. — Pete Rose

When people ask me, "Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?", I have to say that there has never been a pitcher who over-impressed me. That's not meant to be a bragging statement. It's just that I get up for good pitchers. — Pete Rose

When you step into the batter's box, have nothing on your mind except baseball. — Pete Rose

Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone. — Pete Rose

The only way I can't hit .300 is if there's something physically wrong with me. — Pete Rose

Baseball is a universal language. Catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball. — Pete Rose

Umpires got power, man. You ever notice if you go to a ballpark and there's a close play on first base, they will not run the replay at the ballpark? I've seen umpires go underneath and call up and say if you run one more of those replays, we're gonna forfeit the game. That's how strong their union is. — Pete Rose

Baseball and the players association have rules. If you stay within the rules - which say that you can play while you're appealing - I don't see what anyone would be in arms about. — Pete Rose

You know, baseball's not stupid. Baseball does what the fans want, usually. — Pete Rose

Baseball is an individual game, but it should never be a personal game. — Pete Rose

A lot of these catchers don't understand that they are blocking the plate and they don't have the ball. You're not allowed to block the plate without the ball. — Pete Rose

I would think if someone connected to steroids made the Hall of Fame, that would enhance my chances of making the Hall of Fame. — Pete Rose

When somebody wants to interview me, I've always got something to say. — Pete Rose

Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal. — Pete Rose

If I had admitted my guilt, it would have been the same as putting my head on the chopping block - lifetime ban. Death penalty. I spent my entire life on the baseball fields of America, and I was not going to give up my profession without first seeing some hard evidence ... right or wrong, the punishment didn't fit the crime, so I denied the crime. — Pete Rose

There's other ways to make your head and muscles bigger than just steroids. — Pete Rose

I never gave up as a player, and I won't give up as someone who wants to go to the Hall of Fame, because it's the ultimate goal for a baseball player or a football player or a basketball player. — Pete Rose

Sure I do, and if someone paid you six-thousand dollars a game, you'd have fun as well. — Pete Rose

I'm not sure Mark McGwire was a Hall of Famer to begin with. — Pete Rose

Creating success is tough. But keeping it is tougher. You have to keep producing, you can't ever stop. — Pete Rose

I like Barack Obama as a person. He's articulate, he knows sports, his brother-in-law's a coach. He always has the athletes to the White House. But I don't know about some of his policies and some of these people in Congress. — Pete Rose

I'm built like my dad. Stocky, strong. — Pete Rose

Some of my biggest friends are big-time horse owners. — Pete Rose

Back in 1960 at Christmas time, I did work loading and unloading boxcars for Railway Express. That was a kind of weight training that helped me. I weighed about 160 when I started. I began to gain weight and kept right on gaining until I reached 195 pounds. — Pete Rose

Unfortunately, gambling and winning don't often go hand-in-hand. — Pete Rose

Of course, I believe that Mike Piazza is probably the greatest offensive catcher in the history of baseball, only got over 50%. Johnny Bench is the best catcher in the history of baseball, but Piazza has all the record for catchers as far as offensively. — Pete Rose

When people think of me, they think about me knocking catchers down and knocking second basemen down and yelling at pitchers. But when I took the spikes off after the game, I was a nice guy when I went home. — Pete Rose

I'm no different from anybody else with two arms, two legs, and forty-two hundred hits. — Pete Rose

I can't remember, I wish I could remember the first time I bet on baseball. — Pete Rose

When you play this game twenty years, go to bat ten-thousand times, and get three-thousand hits, do you know what that means? You've gone zero for seven-thousand. — Pete Rose

Since 1869, baseball has been doing pretty well. — Pete Rose

I told him (Pete Rose, Jr.) who to watch. I said if you want to be a catcher, watch Johnny Bench. If you want to be a right-handed power hitter, watch Mike Schmidt. If you just want to be a hitter, watch me. — Pete Rose

I get accused of talking about records. But it's the guys who interview me who ask about them. — Pete Rose

If baseball wants to get you, they've got enough resources and enough investigators that they'll find a way to get you. — Pete Rose

Sliding headfirst is the safest way to get to the next base, I think, and the fastest. You don't lose your momentum, and there's one more important reason I slide headfirst, it gets my picture in the paper. — Pete Rose

There is an old saying that money can't buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game. — Pete Rose

Are you tall? Are you strong? How big are your hands? You must be honest with yourself or you will end up using the wrong bat. — Pete Rose

The team that wins two-thirds of its one run games usually wins the pennant. — Pete Rose

Who cares if you bunt for a base hit? — Pete Rose

I still gamble, but it's all legal. I own horses, and I go to watch my horse. I don't go daily. — Pete Rose

If you have someone equal in ability to me I will beat him every time because I will try harder. — Pete Rose

Sometimes, when you don't have spark, someone in the dugout has to create something. — Pete Rose

No one ever asked what was my relationship with Bart Giamatti. We used to talk about baseball a lot as a player and a commissioner, just talk about the game, what could we do to help the game, where's the game going, he was pretty good. — Pete Rose

If somebody is gracious enough to give me a second chance, I won't need a third. — Pete Rose

My body is my best asset. — Pete Rose

I came to Vegas because I work 20 days a month here; I couldn't live anywhere else. — Pete Rose

You'd be surprised how many shortcomings can be overcome by hustle. — Pete Rose

It doesn't take much to get me up for baseball. Once the National Anthem plays, I get chills. I even know the words to it now. — Pete Rose

A hitter's impatience is the pitcher's biggest advantage. — Pete Rose

I was born on the day Lincoln was shot and the Titanic sank. — Pete Rose

If you're not active - and I'm not active - and you don't watch what you eat, you can get big as a horse. — Pete Rose

I am grateful that I live in a nation where most believe that one's punishment should fit their wrongdoing and that ours is a nation that judges an individual by both what he has done and how he has changed. — Pete Rose

He (Eric Davis) gets power from his bat speed ... it's like he has cork in his arms. — Pete Rose

I look at the records, and you don't win the Cy Young seven times or the MVP without being a good player. — Pete Rose

I've never looked forward to a birthday like I'm looking forward to my new daughter's birthday, because two days after that is when I can apply for reinstatement. — Pete Rose

If you screw up and do something, don't lie about it; come clean. — Pete Rose

Obama's a great speaker. Because of his speaking ability and his appearance, a lot of guys got on board. Being the first African American, a lot guys got on board. — Pete Rose

When you ask people about guys they didn't like because they were aggressive, there's me, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors; not too many names would come up. — Pete Rose

I haven't missed a game in two-and-a-half years. I go to the park as sick as a dog and, when I see my uniform hanging there, I get well right now. Then I see some of you guys (media) and I get sick again. — Pete Rose

I've got a 15-year old son and a 10-year old daughter, and if they were going to do one of the following things: be an alcoholic; be a drug offender; beat their wife or husband; or gamble. I hope they would gamble. — Pete Rose

A team will take on its manager's personality. If it's a laid back manager, you'll have a laid back personality. The players will see that if it's OK for the Manager to be laid back, then you'll have a laid back team. — Pete Rose

Pressure? Well it ain't hitting in forty-four straight games, because I done that and it was fun. The playoffs are pressure. — Pete Rose

No player or manager has greater respect for the umpires than I do, and I have demonstrated that over the years. — Pete Rose

What's the game coming to? Evidently the guys making all these rules never played the game of baseball. — Pete Rose

When I get the record, all it will make me is the player with the most hits. I'm also the player with the most at bats and the most outs. I never said I was a greater player than Cobb. — Pete Rose

No matter how many times you say you're sorry, somebody is not going to hear you. — Pete Rose

I owe baseball. Baseball don't owe me a damn thing. — Pete Rose

I know everything about Ty Cobb except the size of his hat. — Pete Rose

I had an addiction to play baseball. — Pete Rose

Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit. If I don't expect to get a hit, I have no right to step into the batter's box in the first place. — Pete Rose

There is no doubt that because I am a switch hitter I have one of the best offensive advantages that a hitter can have. — Pete Rose

My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more. — Pete Rose

I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team; I believe in my team. I did everything in my power every night to win that game. — Pete Rose

You know what God told the Cubs? Don't do anything until I come back. — Pete Rose

Willie Mays could throw better, and Hank Aaron could hit more home runs. But I've got enthusiasm. I've got desire. I've got hustle. Those are God-given talents, too. — Pete Rose

Your obligation as a base runner is to try and be safe within the rules. OK? — Pete Rose

I'd be willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball. — Pete Rose

I never picked up my phone and called a bookmaker and bet on a baseball game from the clubhouse. Never. — Pete Rose

I met Gerald Ford. I met Richard Nixon. I met Jimmy Carter. I met Dwight Eisenhower when he was a general. George Bush senior. I haven't met Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, although I got a letter from him. — Pete Rose

Doctors tell me I have the body of a thirty year old. I know I have the brain of a fifteen year old. If you've got both, you can play baseball. — Pete Rose

Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose. — Pete Rose

I'm not going to go back to gambling; I mean, it's as simple as that. — Pete Rose

I don't think there's any honor bigger than going to your Hall of Fame for your sport. — Pete Rose

The greatest competitor was Bob Gibson. He worked so fast out there and he always had the hood up. He always wanted to close his own deal. He never talked to you because he was battling so hard. I sure as hell don't miss batting against him, but I miss him in the game. — Pete Rose

The manager of a team is like a stagecoach, he can't move unless he has the horses. — Pete Rose

You don't dominate any sport when you're over 40. — Pete Rose

Day after day there are lots of fans here and it helps a lot with them out there rooting for us. — Pete Rose

I love the fans, I love the game of baseball, and I love Cincinnati baseball. — Pete Rose

You owe it to yourself to be the best you can possibly be - in baseball and in life. — Pete Rose

I played with 11 Hall of Famers and played against 52 Hall of Famers, and I don't know any of them linked to steroids. — Pete Rose

The game of baseball is better when the Dodgers are playing well, just like when the Yankees are playing well, or the Cubs, the Phillies, the big-name teams. — Pete Rose

Sparky Anderson taught me this a long time ago: 'There's three ways you can treat a person. You can pat 'em on the butt, you can kick 'em in the butt, or you can leave 'em alone.' — Pete Rose

I actually went to some Gamblers Anonymous classes, and I sat there for three or four of them, and I'm trying to figure out what I have in similarities with these other people, and I could never find anything. It just seems like it wasn't the right place for me. — Pete Rose

Hillary Clinton wrote a book. She got paid. I don't understand why I can't. — Pete Rose

Can you be a nicer gentleman, or a better man for your sport or your kids than Joe Paterno? — Pete Rose

Hitting. That's what I enjoy most. Realistically, it's probably the hardest thing to do in all of sport. Think about it. You've got a round ball, a round bat, and the object is to hit it square. — Pete Rose

The thing I would like most to leave behind is to be remembered for trying hard. — Pete Rose

Never bet on baseball. — Pete Rose

It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square. — Pete Rose

Any time you've got big teams winning, you've got big stars. — Pete Rose