20th-century Baseball Player Quotes

Once the record was mine, I had to use it like a Louisville Slugger. I believed, and still do, that there was a reason why I was chosen to break the record. I feel it's my task to carry on where Jackie Robinson left off, and I only know of one way to go about it. It's the only way I've ever had of dealing with things like fastballs and bigotry -- keep swinging at them.

To get a better piece of chicken, you'd have to be a rooster.

I don't smoke. Smoking will hurt you when you try to run out a triple.

He's an emotional guy, but I don't believe what went on the field tonight outside of baseball deserves any words.

Carlos Zambrano

In no other profession does the character and personality of a director play a more vital role in the development of young people than in the coaching of athletics.

A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me.

In order to become a big-league manager you have to be in the right place at the right time. That's rule number one.

True leaders are the first to admit that they don't know everything and that they need help.

I struck out with two men on base. I was so angry, so frustrated, I turned and without even thinking about it, snapped my bat over my thigh. The bat split right in half. Afterward, reporters asked me if it was the first time I'd ever broken a bat over my thigh. "I broke an aluminum bat over my knee in college," I said. (I was just kidding).

The one thing I always said to myself was that when baseball started to feel more like a job, it would be time to move forward.

I copied Jackson's style because I thought he was the greatest hitter I had ever seen, the greatest natural hitter I ever saw. He's the guy who made me a hitter.

I think the key to that particular play was the throw. I knew I had the ball all the time. In my mind, because I was so cocky at that particular time when I was young, whatever went in the air I felt that I could catch. That's how sure I would be about myself. When the ball went up I had no idea that I wasn't going to catch the ball. As I'm running — I'm running backwards and I'm saying to myself, "How am I going to get this ball back into the infield?"

If you will help run our government in the American way, then there will never be any danger of our government running America in the wrong way.

A guy that throws what he intends to throw, that's the definition of a good pitcher.

Nobody can be all smiley all the time, but having a good positive attitude isn't something to shrug off.

Accomplishment is something you can't buy. If you have a chance and don't make the most of it, you are wasting your time on this earth.

Roberto Clemente

There are really only two options - you can feel things, or you can shut down. But, once you decide to feel things, you don't get to pick and choose what you feel.

A catcher and his body are like the outlaw and his horse. He's got to ride that nag till it drops.

Why do people sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" at the stadium when they're already there?

If a tie is like kissing your sister, losing is like kissing your grandmother with her teeth out.

I never found a place where I wanted to live more than Alvin (Texas).

Home plate is home plate regardless where you play. It don't move.

I feel that I deserve to hear just some words to justify the actions of an organization that I have honored and promoted every day of my nearly 30-year existence in it.

First of all, paleontologists don't believe one another on their own discoveries—how can I believe in people who don't even believe in it themselves? And biblically, there's no mention of dinosaurs. According to the word of the Bible, Adam had dominion over all animals; according to man, dinosaurs ruled the Earth. So either God's a liar, or…well, I don't believe that God's a liar.

You got a resident corner here... Shit-down corner. Now it's gotta be one or the other. If you ain't gotta tackle, you'd better cover. If you ain't gotta cover, you'd better tackle. THEY AIN'T DOIN' NOTHING [EITHER]