Dugout Quotes & Sayings

When we played the Dodgers in St. Louis, they had to come through our dugout, and our bat rack was right there where they had to walk. My bats kept disappearing, and I couldn't figure it out. Turns out, Pee Wee Reese was stealing my bats. I found that out later, after we got out of baseball. He and Rube Walker stole my bats. — Stan Musial

I can still remember Pete Rose, on the top step of the dugout screaming, Fuck you, Shakespeare. — Jim Bouton

All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don't know except it looked good. — Babe Ruth

Renko has just about had it. Pretty soon somebody will come out of the dugout with a fork and get him. — Jerry Coleman

When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team's dugout and they were already in street clothes. — Bob Uecker

The walk-off win provides one of baseball's most thrilling outbursts, launching a couple dozen tense teammates out of the dugout into a frenzied mosh pit of elation. — Dirk Lammers

In the old days, you know, they didn't have batting cages. And in most ball parks, they only had one runway to the dugout. — Pete Rose

I remember one time I'm batting against the Dodgers in Milwaukee. They lead, 2 - 1, it's the bottom of the ninth, bases loaded, two out and the pitcher has a full count on me. I look over to the Dodger dugout and they're all in street clothes. — Bob Uecker

The dugout in the weeds or leaves beneath a backyard willow, the rivulet of a seasonal creek, even the ditch between the front yard and the road-all of these places are entire universes to a young child. — Richard Louv

We never quit trying. I know that's kind of corny, but the fact is we never quit trying. The dugout was alive even when we were behind. And sometimes it works. — Tony La Russa

Forest is the backbone of the O-fers. He pitches, bats cleanup, collects the fees, makes all the pre game reminder calls, fills out the lineup card, and is the undisputed (though unspoken) team captain. Few things inspire like watching Forest round third in the late innings with a head full of steam and two bad knees, his spare tire heaving violently beneath his snug jersey, just as the second basemen is fielding the relay. "Run, Forest, run!" We yell, from the dugout. It never gets old. — Jonathan Evison

It's not fear of striking out that makes me reluctant to step up to the plate. It's the fear of getting hit in the head by a 90 mph fastball, the pitcher coming off of the mound to stomp me with her cleats while I am down, the rest of the opposing team rushing out of the dugout hurling insults as they kick me and spit on me, while all along the crowd in the stands is cheering them on and laughing at my failure. So, no, it's not the fear of striking out that keeps me from stepping up to the plate. — Jim Copeland

I try to walk like Christ in my life. If I strike out, I don't curse, or throw my bat or hit things back in the dugout, I try to quietly just put my helmet back. I may be very upset but I try to control myself. — Torii Hunter

The term in baseball nowadays is a "walk-off home run." It didn't exist until Kirk Gibson hit his famous pinch-hit home run off Dennis Eckersley in game one of the 1988 World Series and Eckersley referred to it as "a walk-off," meaning, quite simply, that when someone does what Gibson did to him in that game, there's nothing left to do except walk off the mound into the dugout and then into the clubhouse. — John Feinstein

Second-baseman Eddie Stanky spoke for the whole team when he shouted at the opposing dugout: "Listen, you yellow-bellied cowards, why don't you yell at somebody who can answer back? — Eric Metaxas

The game jostled back and forth, and then came the final inning. Some player named Casey came to bat, like his teammates, looking like a rock. Lightning ripped through the air as rain came down in sheets. The scoreboard said the horses were beating the rocks by two points, but there were two men on base. If Casey hit a homerun, the rocks would beat the horses. If not, too bad for the rocks.
This man, Ben, and the two people with him looked horrified as this Casey came to bat. They had red shirts with horses painted on them. They jumped up and down for joy when they saw the final pitch, and Casey sulking back to the dugout. He had struck out. After the game, the four hiked back to a very small car. — Molly Maguire McGill

In a tradition second in wonderful absurdity only to 60-year-old baseball managers wearing uniforms and spikes in the dugout, golf spectators come dressed ready to play 18. — Willie Geist

That was the only thing that had got him through the four years of blood and madness: Know exactly where your gun is when you doze for ten minutes in your dugout; always check your gas mask; see that your men have understood their orders to the letter. You don't think ahead in years or months: you think about this hour and maybe the next. Anything else is speculation p. 33 — M.L. Stedman

You can't hit the ball if you don't swing, Trout! That's twice in a row!" Unfortunately we were only two rows away from the field, which was well within hearing range, and that comment earned her a glare from the center fielder in question. When she caught his attention she blew him a kiss and yelled, "Don't worry, you're still my favorite!" The guy tried to hold his glare, but he broke down and laughed. "Thanks, gorgeous. I'll hit the next one just for you," he said as he disappeared into the dugout. — Kelly Oram

My idea of Heaven has nothing to do with fluffy clouds or angels. In my Heaven there's butter pecan ice cream and swimming pools and baseball games. The Brooklyn Dodgers always win, and I have the best seat in the house, right behind the Dodger's dugout. That's the only advantage that I can see about being dead: You get the best seat in the house. — Jennifer L. Holm

Friends of mine said later that they had been riveted by a postgame television close-up of Wade Boggs, sitting alone in the dugout with tears streaming down his face ... . I suppose we should all try to find something better or worse to shed tears for than a game, no matter how hard it has been played, but perhaps it is not such a bad thing to see that men can cry at all. — Roger Angell

The Cubs are a major league baseball team based in Chicago. Apparently, the team was once cursed by a goat and is doomed now to never win the World Series. The 71 seats [auctioned by the Chicago Board of Exchange] are adjacent to the Cubs' dugout on the third-base line. This is an unnecessary detail needed to give color to what would otherwise be a dull and uninspiring narrative. — Rakesh V. Vohra

A tall, thin old man waving a scorecard from the corner of his dugout. That's baseball. — Ernie Harwell

And the Great Adventure - the real life equivalent of all the adventure stories they'd devoured as boys - consisted of crouching in a dugout, waiting to be killed. The war that had promised so much in the way of 'manly' activity had actually delivered 'feminine' passivity, and on a scale that their mothers and sisters had hardly known. No wonder they broke down. — Pat Barker

My job has changed over the years, 22 years roughly I've been cooking professionally. When I was younger, I aspired to be the star player. Now, it's more I like to sit in the dugout and make sure the team wins the game. — Wylie Dufresne

Initially, it (winning the 1967 American League Pennant) was what you would dream about in Little League. The winning pitcher, being on the mound to win the pennant, everyone congratulating me. But a few minutes later, you realize you're not going where you want to go. I was trying to get back in the dugout. Thank God for the Boston police, they were able to control the crowd. It was delirium. — Jim Lonborg

I remember you explaining the bases to me in this dugout. The best baseball conversation we ever had."
I lean forward and claps my hands together. "Maybe you missed part of the conversation, because I wasn't explaining baseball."
... "I know, but I still enjoyed the demonstration. — Katie McGarry

When you get that nice celebration coming into the dugout and you're getting your ass hammered by guys, there's no better feeling than to have that done. — Matt Stairs

The doctor said a ball hit me. But I don't remember batting." "You were in the dugout. Henry made a bad throw." "Henry did? Really? Are you sure?" "Yes." "Well, it's always the ones you least suspect." Owen let his eyes fall shut. "I don't remember anything at all. Was I reading?" Affenlight nodded. "I warned you. It's a dangerous pastime. — Chad Harbach

Anyway, how can you sack anyone who still hasn't got a contract. I'll be there for the game and I'll stand behind the dugout giving instructions to the players from there. They will respond to me more than the next manager. — Paul Gascoigne

I don't miss being in the dugout - I'll make that clear. — Tony La Russa

Coach Smith poked his head into the dugout. If you ladies are done with the warm and fuzzies, I'd like you to get your asses on the field with your team. — J. Sterling

One curve I'll always remember was when I was pitching for Pittsburgh. Terry Kennedy was a young player with St. Louis. I threw him an 0-2 curve and it snapped. Terry's reaction was to swing straight down, like he was chopping the plate with an axe. It was the last out of the inning. After I ran off the mound, I looked over at the St. Louis dugout. There were players rolling around on the floor, laughing. Poor Terry. I'll have to admit that was a hell of a curveball. — Bert Blyleven

The moment the game (AL Pennant versus the Twins) was over I sprinted for the dugout. The fans were pouring onto the field. If they'd caught me they'd have torn my uniform into shreds for souvenirs. — Carl Yastrzemski

There's a hard shot to LeMaster, he throws Madlock into the dugout. — Jerry Coleman

I won't say that women belong in the kitchen, but they don't belong in the dugout. — Keith Hernandez

Gary Bell is nicknamed Ding Dong. Of course. What's interesting about it is that "Ding Dong" is what the guys holler when somebody gets hit in the cup. The cups are metal inserts that fit inside the jock strap, and when a baseball hits one it's called ringing the bell, which rhymes with hell, which is what it hurts like. It's funny, even if you're in the outfield, or in the dugout, no matter how far away, when a guy gets it in the cup you can hear it. Ding Dong. — Jim Bouton

A dugout is much superior to a conventional manufactured canoe because you can get soaking wet without bothering to capsize it. — P. J. O'Rourke

Usually during the regular season, if you're starting pitcher, you're kind of walking back and forth from the clubhouse to the dugout and not really paying attention to what's going on. — Jon Lester

They say baseball is a slow game. It sure doesn't seem that way when you're in the dugout. You think you have it figured out, but things come up quick. — Mike Quade

So long as we think dugout canoes are the only possibility-all that is real or can be real-we will never see the ship, we will never feel the free wind blow. — Sonia Johnson

Sure I played, did you think I was born at the age of 70 sitting in a dugout trying to manage guys like you? — Casey Stengel

They should have come out of the dugout on tippy-toes, holding hands and singing. — Mickey Mantle

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

Wait," Toby said, talking over her as she looked around at all of us. "So this means all you guys are off, like, rounding the bases and I'm still in the dugout. I'm the person selling Cracker Jack in the stands."
"This metaphor is getting weird," Palmer murmured to me. — Morgan Matson