Hitter Quotes & Sayings

You're not going to be a 1.000 hitter all the time. You're going to be more wrong than right. You just have to correct your errors as quickly, as economically, as possible. — Les Wexner

I take many things seriously. Rudyard Kipling, Harper Lee, Oscar Wilde, and Elmore Leonard are all held in the highest regard. I am dead serious when I discuss the many reasons that Ernest Hemingway's greatest contribution to literature was his generous decision to take his own life. I will not be sucked into a discussion of politics by people who prefer emotion to reason. The designated hitter is an abomination, and the day pitchers and catchers report is the start of the new year despite what those ill-informed calendar makers might try to tell you." "I — Brian D. Meeks

Despite popular belief, hitting someone with a closed fist actually hurts the hitter almost as much as the hittee. — Ally Carter

I've been streaky throughout my career, but I've been trying to become a more consistent hitter. — Travis Hafner

Ted Williams, an extraordinary hitter in his day, has said the swing starts in the hips, and Sosa arrived with one of the strongest lower bodies in the game. — Bill Dedman

Mike Laga will make you forget about every power hitter that ever lived. — Sparky Anderson

The British are actually a lot more appreciative of the comic. In Canada, if you're perceived as a comic writer, there's a real snobbery, and you can't be serious. You're not a big hitter. — Miriam Toews

Anytime you can see a hitter and face a hitter, you gain knowledge, and you gain that experience. Whether they hit a homerun off you, or you strike them out or whatever it is, it's information. — Jon Lester

He's the strangest hitter in baseball. Figure him out one way and he'll kill you another. — Sandy Koufax

I know where my game is. I know I'm a power hitter and an RBI guy. I need to get on base for my teammates behind me and just stick with my game. I don't try to do too much. Sometimes when you try to do too much in this game you pretty much can't do anything. And that's pretty much my mentality. — Marco Scutaro

I study pitchers. I visualize pitches. That gives me a better chance every time I step into the box. That doesn't mean I'm going to get a hit every game, but that's one of the reasons I've come a long way as a hitter. — Mark McGwire

There's different kinds of laughs. It's like a baseball lineup: this guy's your power hitter, this guy gets on base, this guy works out walks. If everybody does their job, we're gonna win. — Jerry Seinfeld

What had I expected of the first child? Everything. Rocket scientist. Neurosurgeon. Designated hitter. We talked wisely at cocktail parties about the sad mistake our mothers had made in pinning all their hopes and dreams on us. We were full of it. — Anna Quindlen

I'm a fastball hitter. It's no secret I'm looking for a fastball every pitch. I think it's one of the hardest things to do in sports-to hit a moving baseball. — Carlos Delgado

It's Curt Schilling and his bloody sock staring down the Yankees in the Bronx. It's Derek Lowe taking the mound the very next night to complete the most improbable comeback in baseball history - and then seven days later clinching the World Series. It's Pedro Martinez and his six hitless innings of postseason relief against the Indians. Yes, it is also Cy Young and Roger Clemens, and the 192 wins in a Red Sox uniform that they share - the perfect game for Young, the 20 strikeout games for Clemens - but it is also Bill Dinneen clinching the 1903 World Series with a busted, bloody hand, and Jose Santiago shutting down Minnesota with two games left in the season to keep the 1967 Impossible Dream alive, and Jim Lonborg clinching the Impossible Dream the very next day, and Jim Lonborg again, tossing a one-hitter and a three-hitter in the 1967 World Series, and Luis Tiant in the 1975 postseason, shutting out Oakland and Cincinnati in back-to-back starts. They are all winners. — Tucker Elliot

There was a time when rival teams used a shift against me. They would put the second baseman on the shortstop's side of the bag, move the shortstop into the hole to his right, and have the third baseman hug the foul line. The idea was to build an infield wall against a known right-handed pull hitter. — Harmon Killebrew

In the Philippines around 1916, an offensive style of passing the ball in a high trajectory to be struck by another player-the set and spike-was introduced. These players also developed the bomba, or kill, and called the hitter the bomberino. — Bonnie Kenny

Traditionally, baseball punishes preening. In a society increasingly tolerant of exhibitionism, it is splendid when a hitter is knocked down because in his last at bat he lingered at the plate to admire his home run. — George Will

What makes a good leadoff hitter? Deion Sanders had speed, but he wasn't the ideal leadoff hitter. What was his on-base percentage? The criteria shouldn't be speed, it should be getting on base. — Jack McKeon

A good player who is a great putter is a match for any golfer. A great hitter who cannot putt is a match for no one. — Ben Sayers

if Pedro is talking?" Ruiz didn't say anything. "They might be tracking his cell. The hitter — Tyler Dilts

When you start a game, you don't think to yourself, "well, OK, I'm going throw a one-hitter today." It just becomes an organism, your outing becomes an organism and it grows. — R.A. Dickey

Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution. — Hank Aaron

Some coaches believed they could judge a player's performance simply by watching it. In this they were deeply mistaken. The naked eye was an inadequate tool for learning what you needed to know to evaluate baseball players and baseball games. Think about it. One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks. The difference between a good hitter and an average hitter is simply not visible-it is a matter of record — Michael Lewis

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

There's been times where I've come out of the bullpen thinking I was going to throw a no hitter, and I've lasted two or three innings. So I try not to use my pre-game warm ups as a barometer of how I'm going to pitch. — Tim Wakefield

When I stood up there as a pinch hitter, I honestly believed I was the best hitter in the game. That's the only attitude to have. — Manny Mota

I had an incredible experience living in New York, playing for the Yankees, to go through all of the things I did, including the no-hitter. It was a very memorable time. — Jim Abbott

I always had the attitude that I wanted to throw a no-hitter every game. — Dennis Eckersley

I give him (Frank Howard during April 28, 1968 two-hitter) shoulder, back, foot and the ball last," and Frank Howard commented, "He threw everything at me but the ball. — Luis Tiant

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

A no-hitter secures a pitcher's spot on an elite yet diverse list that embraces Hall of Famers, struggling journeymen, and wide-eyed rookies. — Dirk Lammers

I threw my best to every hitter I faced, and I found I had the strength to go all the way. — Ed Walsh

Some pitchers want to be known as the fastest throwers that ever lived. Some want to win 30 games in one season. Some want to pitch a no-hitter. All I want to do is the best I can, day after day. In other words, I want to prove I am the best. — Tom Seaver

People think the leadoff spot is a big deal. I tell people you're going to lead off the first inning, and after that, you can be a No. 4 hitter or No. 3 hitter. — Andruw Jones

I cant think of anything more humiliating than losing a ballgame to a guy who steals home on you. It happened to me one time against Kansas City. I had a 2-2 count on the hitter - and Amos Otis broke from third. The pitch was a ball and slid in safe. I felt like a nickel. — Nolan Ryan

I don't really look at myself as a power hitter. I look at myself as someone who drives the ball to the gaps, hits line drives. — Andrew McCutchen

The no-hitter was the highlight of my career. The specialness of it, I didn't know how lasting it would be when it happened. Everywhere I go, people talk about that game, how exciting it was. That makes me very proud. I'm awfully happy that a ball didn't bloop in somewhere. — Jim Abbott

I used to be a mad hitter. And then I learned the longer you wait out the ball, the better you see it. And the better you see it, the harder you hit it. And the harder you hit it, the higher your average is going to be. And the higher your average is, the more money you're going to make. — George Brett

A great hitter isn't born, he's made. He's made out of practice, fault correction, and confidence. — Rogers Hornsby

I'm a different hitter than Chipper Jones. He goes up looking for certain pitches to hit. I go up there looking for something over the plate and try to hit it hard. — Jeff Francoeur

What's pretty important, and least was for me, (related an exceptionally good pinch-hitter on the pressures involved with failing with so much at stake) you can't be afraid to enjoy the moment. — Tim Wendel

The key to pitching is to have the ability to throw a strike when they're taking and throw a ball when the hitter is swinging. — Greg Maddux

Pitchers don't need to hit well; they need to pitch well. Every step you create needs to do what it does best and nothing more. Focus allows you to pursue excellence, to zero in on the target. You can ruin a great pitcher by trying to make a hitter out of him, and you can ruin a great church ... — Andy Stanley

Maintaining concentration depends on what I call tunnel vision; nothing else in the world exists but the catcher's target, the hitter and my perfect delivery. — Nolan Ryan

You should have seen Willie Wells play shortstop: as good as Ozzie Smith and a better hitter. How I wish people could have seen Ray Dandridge play third base, as good as Brooks Robinson and Craig Nettles and all of those. He was bowlegged; a train might go through there, but not a baseball. — Monte Irvin

What is life, after all, but a challenge? And what better challenge can there be than the one between the pitcher and the hitter. — Warren Spahn

One game, one pitch can change everything for a hitter. The way I like to approach it is that every at-bat is its own unique opportunity to go out there and do something really good. — Anthony Rizzo

I was the most powerful left-handed hitter in the Alameda area. — Willie Stargell

I just want to become a great leadoff hitter. — Carl Crawford

To be a good hitter you've got to do one thing - get a good ball to hit. — Rogers Hornsby

No one had to tell me I was never going to be a home run hitter. I was hitting the same ball as the rest of the players, but when the big guys cracked one, it went out of the park. Mine went out of the infield. — Nellie Fox

There's so much attached to playing shortstop that you lose your concentration on hitting, unless you're a natural hitter. There's so much to think about in the field, you don't have time to think about what you did at the plate last time. 'How did he get me out?' — Lou Boudreau

A successful pitcher keeps the leadoff hitter from reaching first base and puts the first pitch over for a strike - the two most important rules of pitching. — Nolan Ryan

He foresaw the platooning that managers like Casey Stengel used years before it happened. He told me I had to be a switch-hitter if I was going to play. — Mickey Mantle

The Brooklyn Dodgers had a no hitter last night. — Bob Dole

I guess I'm the only guy old enough to figure him (Nolan Ryan, 1-Hitter Game in 1991) out. — Dave Winfield

Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter. — Doug Harvey

Sometimes the hitter get a hit, sometimes I strike them out, but in niether case does anyone die. — Orlando Hernandez

Independence is the recognition of the fact that yours is the responsibility of judgement and nothing can help you escape it - that no substitute can do your thinking, as no pinch-hitter can live your life. — Ayn Rand

I'm probably an average hitter, at least, and if you talk to my peers, they will tell you that I hit the ball plenty far enough. — Luke Donald

I wish I was just a left-handed hitter. It's really tough having to keep both sides sharp, and that's one reason why you don't see switch-hitters hit for that high of an average. You're always fighting one side or the other. — Lance Berkman

You never know when you're going to throw a no-hitter or if you're ever going to get the chance to do it. It's one of those deals where the ninth inning comes around; it's either going to be your night or just a complete game. — Jon Lester

I'm the leadoff hitter, it's my job to lead this team. I know people say the way I go is how the Mets go, so I'll do whatever it takes. — Jose Reyes

My changeup looks like a fastball, but one goes straight and the other goes away from the righthanded hitter. Sometimes it cuts by itself, and I don't know where it's going. — Johan Santana

I'm always amazed when a pitcher becomes angry at a hitter for hitting a home run off him. When I strike out, I don't get angry at the pitcher, I get angry at myself. I would think that if a pitcher threw up a home run ball, he should be angry at himself. — Willie Stargell

There's nobody on my ball club that doesn't go from first to third on a base hit, or from second to home. Every time you steal a base, you're taking a gamble on getting thrown out, and taking the bat out of the hitter's hand. — Casey Stengel

On radio, you're in your own little world. Every time I'd be doing a possible no-hitter - I think I've done something like 25 no-hitters and a couple of perfect games - I would always put the date on the tape. Not for me, but for the player, so that 25 or 30 years later when he's playing it for his kids or grandkids, you have that date. — Vin Scully

For hitter or pitcher, rookie or veteran, baseball has long been defined by failure rather than success, the old a-.300-hitter-gets-out-7-times-in-10-at-bats truism. Dealing with and managing failure is an essential - some would say the essential - part of the job description. — Barry Svrluga

Our sister Alma was the best hitter in the family. We used to soak corn cobs in water so they wouldn't fly so far when we hit 'em. Alma was the first to hit one far enough to break a window in the barn. — Lloyd Waner

One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks. — Michael Lewis

A lot of pitchers today are afraid of the ball. Warren Spahn pinch-hit for me when I was a rookie. He hit a sacrifice fly. I couldn't argue. I was 20 years old and just happy to be in the big leagues. And Spahnnie was a good hitter. — Joe Torre

I think, therefore I am, said a man whose mother quickly
hit him on the head, saying, I hit my son on the head,
therefore I am.
No no, you've got it all wrong, cried the man.
So she hit him on the head again and cried, therefore I am.
You're not, not that way; you're supposed to think, not hit,
cried the man.

. . . I think, therefore I am, said the man.
I hit, therefore we both are, the hitter and the one who gets
hit, said the man's mother.
But at this point the man had ceased to be; unconscious he
could not think. But his mother could. So she thought, I am,
and so is my unconscious son, even if he doesn't know it . . . — Russell Edson

The .350 hitter expects, and also deserves, a big payoff for his performance - even if he plays for a cellar-dwelling team. And a .150 hitter should get no reward - even if he plays for a pennant winner. — Warren Buffett

Carlton does not pitch to the hitter, he pitches through him. The batter hardly exists for Steve. He's playing an elevated game of catch. — Tim McCarver

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

I don't think I'm a home run hitter. Most of my home runs are line drives. If I hit it, thanks God. But it's not the kind of thing that I think about. I just go out there and try to have a better season than I had before. Home runs are not in my mind. — Robinson Cano

I was a lousy hitter in May doing the same things that made me a great hitter in June. — Carl Yastrzemski

I believe in the soul ... the small of a woman's back, the hanging curveball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve, and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days. — Kevin Costner

Tom Hanks has taken George Clooney's place as the big-hitter driving a lot of liberal causes. — Bill O'Reilly

There was a point at which I thought I'd never get the most valuable player, especially the years I played at Minnesota. We never won a pennant there, we were far away from the big media centers of Los Angeles and New York, and I wasn't a flashy power hitter but a guy who hit to spots, who bunted and stole bases. — Rod Carew

I was the worst hitter ever. I never even broke a bat until last year when I was backing out of the garage. — Lefty Gomez

When life throws you curve balls, become a curve ball hitter. — C.L. Swinney

Pull-heavy, right-handed hitters should also have seen shifts, but rarely did. According to BIS's database, the first shift employed against a right-handed hitter in the modern era didn't occur until June 11, 2009, when the Phillies shifted left against Gary Sheffield. — Travis Sawchik

I consider Billy Keeler, Mike Tiernan, Ed Delihanty and Larrie La Joie the toughest hitters I had to pitch to, but I did not dread them. Remember, Hughie Duffy was a member of our team, so I did not face him. In my opinion, Duffy was the greatest hitter. — Kid Nichols

The game of baseball between pitcher and hitter sets up like a game of chess in that you have to anticipate several moves ahead to set up your opponent. — Brad Lidge

All the publicity, the attention, the interviews, the photographs, were too much for me (after throwing his second no-hitter in 1938). — Johnny Vander Meer

I believe I'm a middle-of-the-order hitter capable of driving in runs. If I stay healthy, I'll get back to that level. — Justin Morneau

Jerry Lumpe looks like the best hitter in the world until you put him in the lineup. — Casey Stengel

I had never seen a perfect game or no-hitter thrown. — Phil Humber

Ted Williams was the greatest hitter I ever saw, but DiMaggio was the greatest all around player. — Bob Feller

If I've got a good pinch-hitter, I hate to have him stay on the bench with men on the bases in an early inning. He may end the game right there. — Casey Stengel

Every hitter likes fastballs, just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's what it feels like when Nolan Ryan's thrown balls by you. — Reggie Jackson

I am a better hitter with runners in scoring position. — Robinson Cano

There's only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher. — Ted Williams

The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid, and if he is timid, he has to remind the hitter he's timid. — Don Drysdale

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 biggest regret was letting my lifetime average drop below .300. I always felt I was a .300 hitter, and if I could change one thing that would be it. — Mickey Mantle

A lot of people just thought I'd be a .260 hitter all my life. I was kind of like, 'Let me make some adjustments and let me learn the game a little bit.' — Jeff Francoeur

Well, I believe in the soul, the cock, the pussy, the small of a woman's back, the hanging curve ball, high fiber, good scotch, that the novels of Susan Sontag are self-indulgent, overrated crap. I believe Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone. I believe there ought to be a constitutional amendment outlawing Astroturf and the designated hitter. I believe in the sweet spot, soft-core pornography, opening your presents Christmas morning rather than Christmas Eve and I believe in long, slow, deep, soft, wet kisses that last three days.
Crash Davis Bull Durham — Ron Shelton