Quotes & Sayings About Baseball

I probably would never be caught wearing a baseball cap. Hats are difficult to me because they tend to be too big for my head. They don't fit right, and I feel ridiculous. — Ariel Pink

I went to a Christian all-boys' college one time to pick up my buddies so we could go play baseball, and I just remember walking through the halls, and there's all these crucified Jesuses. It's scary. — Evan Goldberg

During the 1920s New York Yankee owner Jacob Ruppert once described his perfect afternoon at Yankee Stadium. 'It's when the Yankees score eight runs in the first inning,' Ruppert said, 'and then slowly pull away.' — Peter Golenbock

Toughest job in baseball is the general manager. Second toughest is the hitting coach. — Ken Harrelson

This was a new recognition that perfection is admirable but a trifle inhuman, and that a stumbling kind of semi-success can be much more warming. Most of all, perhaps, these exultant yells for the Mets were also yells for ourselves, and came from a wry, half-understood recognition that there is more Met than Yankee in every one of us. I knew for whom that foghorn blew; it blew for me. — Roger Angell

If a ballplayer is satisfied, he's going to slip. You have to keep fighting to improve. — Nellie Fox

That's the remarkable thing about baseball. The game has a way of having you scratch your head one minute and drive you crazy, and then the next, you're entertained beyond your wildest hopes. That's why it's the best game. — Johnny Bench

When I was a kid, I played sports a lot. My mom and dad were divorced, but I hung out in the neighborhood a lot, and it was all about sports. I would be out all day on the sand lot or on the hockey rink. My dad would take me to baseball games, but he worked so hard, and he would always fall asleep. — Alex Gibney

I would like people not to think in terms of the 755 home runs I hit but think in terms of what I've accomplished off the field and some of the things I stood for. — Hank Aaron

I thought I'd be back in baseball, but I didn't know when. — Jon Lester

When I started to sing, my mother would have me engaged to perform at the Women's Christian Temperance Union national or annual meetings. I would hate doing this because I wanted to play baseball or go off skiing. — Maureen Forrester

Stiff, huh? I think seeing you roll around on the floor in that tight little outfit accomplished that. — Collette West

The season starts too early and finishes too late and there are too many games in between. — Bill Veeck

People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball. — Sandy Koufax

While baseball and parties can help, the only thing that heals a broken heart is time. — Josh Radnor

If he raced his pregnant wife he'd finish third. — Tommy Lasorda

I was showing early symptoms of becoming a professional baseball man. I was lying to the press. — Roger Kahn

As far as I'm concerned, Aaron is the best ball player of my era. He is to baseball of the last fifteen years what Joe DiMaggio was before him. He's never received the credit he's due. — Mickey Mantle

The big tragedy in baseball is that the amateur spirit has gone out of it to a large extent. — Larry MacPhail

My suits that I wore on Baseball Tonight were in a heap, caked with drywall, which wouldn't be a big deal except it's hard to find 36-short suits other than at Nordstrom for Kids. — Tim Kurkjian

In baseball, you can do something poorly and still get credit. A pitcher could throw a bad ball, the batter hit a screaming line drive, and an outfielder make a fantastic diving catch. Yet, when you look at historical databases, 80% of the time when a ball is struck with that trajectory and velocity, it is a hit. — Billy Beane

That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit. — Willie Mays

The ballgame is over ... in this inning. — Jerry Coleman

I remember one time going out to the mound to talk with Bob Gibson. He told me to get back behind the batter; that the only thing I knew about pitching was that it was hard to hit! — Tim McCarver

I play for the poor man. I try to give a thrill to the lunch bucket fan. I know their plight. I worked in a factory in high school. The poor folk who lay out the hard bread to see a game. That's where my heart lies. The rich don't need heroes. — Leon Wagner

Sir, your baseball career may be over. You need to find a new profession. Gatewood answered, I've heard that before. (He had always come back. He would prove them wrong again.) (From Love and Death at the Encierro) — Hal Graff

Aw, everybody knows that game, the day I hit the homer off ole Charlie Root there in Wrigley Field, the day October first, the third game of that thirty-two World Series. But right now I want to settle all arguments. I didn't exactly point to any spot, like the flagpole. Anyway, I didn't mean to, I just sorta waved at the whole fence, but that was foolish enough. All I wanted to do was give that thing a ride ... outta the park ... anywhere. — Babe Ruth

When I was a kid, I have two dreams. I want to be a baseball player. Hometown, Hiroshima, has a Japanese baseball franchise team called Hiroshima Carps. You know, and then I want to be a sushi chef. I want to make own restaurant - sushi restaurant. — Masaharu Morimoto

It's hard to get guys out when you have nothing to get them out with. — Tim Wakefield

Thank you ... adjustable baseball caps with no logo on the front and mesh netting in the back, for being a great way to say, 'Hi, I'm over 80 years old.' — Jimmy Fallon

There has always been a saying in baseball that you can't make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter. More than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game. — Ted Williams

Two hours is about as long as any American can wait for the close of a baseball game, or anything else for that matter. — Al Spalding

For instance, a new kind of rich person named John Henry bought the Florida Marlins in January 1999. Most baseball owners were either heirs, or empire builders of one sort or another, or both. Henry had made his money in the intelligent end of the financial markets. He had an instinctive feel for the way statistical analysis could turn up inefficiencies in human affairs. Inefficiencies in the financial markets had made Henry a billionaire - and he saw some familiar idiocies in the market for baseball players. — Anonymous

I do the work just because I enjoy it on the day, working with the guys. For me, it's like going to play a game of baseball: you've got your teammates, you get to do something that's fun, hopefully, and whatever happens with that stuff is in the cosmos someplace. — William Petersen

I always thought that there was going to be life after baseball, and so I designed that in my life I would have other interests after baseball that I would be able to step into. And I didn't realize the grip that baseball had on me and on my family. — Nolan Ryan

I am convinced that being fully committed to the moment, without any worries about the past or projections into the future, is the best attribute a closer can have. You wonder why the shelf life of so many short relievers is, well, so short? Why guys can be unhittable for a year or two and then disappear? It's because it takes a ton of concentration, and self-belief, to stay in the moment in this way and not let the highs and lows mess with your psyche. — Mariano Rivera

I heard Bob Weinstein actually likened actors to baseball players. You work for a while then all of a sudden you go through a dry spell. — Michael Cera

Saying that men talk about baseball in order to avoid talking about their feelings is the same as saying that women talk about their feelings in order to avoid talking about baseball. — Deborah Tannen

I don't know anything about baseball. — Sean Connery

Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything. — Doug Harvey

I don't want everybody to just see the baseball side of me. — Bryce Harper

1980 Fun Fact #1: Mattel releases the Intellivision video game console. Our video game addiction began with the likes of "Baseball," "Football," and "Night Stalker. — Tom Harvey

To not look at the data is foolish, but to look at the data as having all the answers is even more foolish. It is a collision of new-school statistics and statisticians against old-school managers, coaches, and instructors. Neither side is right, neither is wrong; there is so much to be gained from listening to both sides. — Tim Kurkjian

If I go to a baseball game, I hear 'Shoeless Joe,' but otherwise, I hear 'toe pick' five times a day. No matter how many more movies I make, that'll be on my gravestone. — D. B. Sweeney

I don't make speeches. I just let my bat speak for me in the summertime. — Honus Wagner

The more baseball the better. It is a healthful sport and develops team play and initiative, plus an independent attitude. — Dwight D. Eisenhower

How do you combat a man with a firearm? You don't combat him with a golf club, baseball bat or a knife. You combat him with another firearm. — Luke Scott

I'm helplessly and permanently a Red Sox fan. It was like first love ... You never forget. It's special. It's the first time I saw a ballpark. I'd thought nothing would ever replace cricket. Wow! Fenway Park at 7 o'clock in the evening. Oh, just, magic beyond magic: never got over that — Simon Schama

Owners, the way they blackballed me from baseball, the way they used me, in a sense, and then the way they wanted to send a signal to the other players, saying, you know, we're going to get Jose Canseco out of the game. This is a cue or a message for you other guys to stop using steroids because the owners lost total control of the steroid use. — Jose Canseco

I don't know what you guys say, but at home, life is way different from baseball. — Barry Bonds

One of the inspirations for my becoming a writer was the baseball board game Strat-O-Matic. — H. G. Bissinger

Well, my favorite sport as a kid was clearly baseball. — Leigh Steinberg

Major League Baseball has created a Pete Rose purgatory, and that's where he is. And that's where he's always going to be. It's unfortunate that the commissioner's office has decided to allow that to be the reality. I don't think Pete would mind if they said 'No' to Pete. Pete wants them to go one way or the other and get him out of the void he's in. — Mike Schmidt

Ralph (Houk) brought out the best in everybody, and that included me. I consider myself lucky to have played for him. — Mickey Mantle

They got a lot of kids now whose uniforms are so tight, especially the pants, that they cannot bend over to pick up ground balls. And they don't want to bend over in television games because in that way there is no way their face can get on the camera. — Casey Stengel

A man has to have goals - for a day, for a lifetime - and that was mine, to have people say, 'There goes Ted Williams, the greatest hitter who ever lived. — Ted Willams

Sitting at a candidate rally is similar to sitting in a ballyard. Both give you the opportunity to assess the technical metrics and reflect on the intangibles - what baseball calls 'make up' and politics calls 'character' - the leadership, talent and maturity to add value to a venture. — Christine Pelosi

It's like someone breaks your arm, and the person who slammed the baseball bat into it is saying, "The only reason it won't heal is because you keep complaining that it hurts." How about you get me a cast so the bone can set straight again? America does not want to put the effort into providing this cast. This is why we must talk about race, and we must do it openly. As — Luvvie Ajayi

A man ought to get all he can earn. A man who knows he's making money for other people ought to get some of the profit he brings in. Don't make any difference if it's baseball or a bank or a vaudeville show. It's business, I tell you. There ain't no sentiment to it. Forget that stuff. — Babe Ruth

If I were playing today I'd do what Joe DiMaggio said. I'd go knock on the door at Yankee Stadium and when George Steinbrenner answered I'd say, 'Howdy, pardner.' — Mickey Mantle

I think we have our sports within our own culture that are huge with baseball, football, basketball, and hockey. Those are the sports in America that we grow up with and soccer isn't really there yet. — Claudio Reyna

In Hollywood, for me, it's all about the movie stars and the singers. Baseball players don't draw too much attention; we're low key. I'm good with faces and sometimes bad with names, but I'll walk up to somebody if I know who they are ... show them some love. — Matt Kemp

If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins, but might take five years off his life, he'd take it. — Jim Bouton

If you don't think baseball is a big deal, don't do it. But if you do, do it right. — Tom Seaver

Everyone says the best fans in baseball are here [in Boston] and I can't wait to be a part of that. — Jason Bay

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball. — Willie Mays

He bats like a lightning rod. — W.P. Kinsella

Baseball is more than a game. It's like life played out on a field. — Juliana Hatfield

We're playing for our lives now. — Bob Melvin

I'm gonna let him hit one. — Denny McLain

When you ten, you know more about your team than you ever will know again. — Dan Shaughnessy

It strange how upset people get about a few dozen baseball players taking growth hormones, when we're doing what we're doing to our food animals and feeding them to our children? — Jonathan Safran Foer

October 1976 was the penultimate performance of Bench's Hall of Fame career. All the early success and awards and accolades thrown in his direction had prepared him for this moment - when the Big Red Machine became a dynasty by defending it's World Championship from the season before. — Tucker Elliot

Cricket is baseball on Valium. — Robin Williams

Back in East St. Louis, tennis wasn't the real thing. If you weren't playing baseball, basketball, football, you were kind of on the outside. — Jimmy Connors

TRAVIS: I never said I like boys!
GORDO: Ever beat off to Penthouse?
TRAVIS: No.
GORDO: Ever collect baseball cards?
TRAVIS: No.
GORDO: How old is Barbra Streisand?
TRAVIS: 36. Three weeks ago.
GORDO:What do you need - a fucking blueprint? — Steve Kluger

We're baseball players. We don't need guys telling us, 'Hey, you need to hurry. Hey, you need to do this. Hey, you need to step up.' We are professionals, we can do that without anybody telling us. I'm OK with it, but we need to do it on our own. — Bengie Molina

Boston fans - and New York fans are the same - it doesn't matter what you do outside of baseball, they don't forgive or forget that you play in pinstripes and they don't care about your interests off the field. — Bronson Arroyo

The great thing about baseball is when you're done, you'll only tell your grandchildren the good things. If they ask me about 1989, I'll tell them I had amnesia. — Sparky Anderson

In baseball, you can't kill the clock. You've got to give the other man his chance. That's why this is the greatest game. — Earl Weaver

The fundamentals of baseball haven't changed, but how we can teach those fundamentals has. With an e-book, learning can be more rewarding and fun. — Dusty Baker

A lot of things run through your head when you're going in to relieve in a tight spot. One of them was, "Should I spike myself?" — Lefty Gomez

Chuck Norris has been known to throw a baseball 100 mph. I've been known to throw Chuck Norris 100 mph. — Brian Wilson

I hated to bat against Drysdale. After he hit you he'd come around, look at the bruise on your arm and say, 'Do you want me to sign it?' — Mickey Mantle

Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young. Sitting in the stands, we sense this, if only dimly. The players below us - Mays, DiMaggio, Ruth, Snodgrass - swim and blur in memory, the ball floats over to Terry Turner, and the end of this game may never come. — Roger Angell

First we'll escape, then we'll play baseball. — Michael Nesmith

A baseball manager has learned a lot about his job from having played the game, but a parent has not learned a thing from having once been a child. — Bill Cosby

I rarely think the market is right. I believe non dividend stocks aren't much more than baseball cards. They are worth what you can convince someone to pay for it. — Mark Cuban

I was a professional athlete, the best baseball player in the world at one point. — Jose Canseco

There are a lot of shots in golf I can't hit, but I try to hit them anyway. The frustration is not there, because I'm still learning. But I really know how to do this. I'm not just hoping to get it where I want it ... Let the other guys do it half-assed. — Greg Maddux

Frank went out for baseball and while he wasn't very good, it wasn't a total loss. The coach used him as a pattern to drawn the on-deck circle. — Pat Williams

Men who are going bald often wear baseball caps. — Rita Rudner

On matters of race, on matters of decency, baseball should lead the way. — A. Bartlett Giamatti

I'm just a seasonal guy. Basketball, football, baseball, boxing, golf. Give it to me all the time. — Jerry Ferrara

Let the teachers teach English and I will teach baseball. There is a lot of people in the United States who say isn't, and they ain't eating. — Dizzy Dean

The game isn't over till it's over. — Yogi Berra

The first thing baseball wants to do is make you a superstar and then say that you owe baseball something. I don't owe baseball anything. Baseball owes me. — Hank Aaron

You know what I love best about baseball? The pine tar, the resin, the grass, the dirt - and that's just in the hot-dogs. — David Letterman

I tried golf for a while, but I wasn't very good at it, so I didn't play a lot of golf. I enjoy all sports, not just football. I like basketball, baseball, and I got into the World Cup. So really, sports in general are my life, and football specifically. — John Madden

As we all know, Cooperstown is the home of baseball. One of the many duties of the home plate umpire is to make sure that the runner touches home. Well, if you're a true baseball fan, you need to visit Cooperstown. This is home. — Doug Harvey