I always swing at the ball with all my might. I hit or miss big and when I miss I know it long before the umpire calls a strike on me, for every muscle in my back, shoulders and arms is groaning, "You missed it." And be­lieve me, it is no fun to miss a ball that hard. Once I put myself out of the game for a few days by a miss like that.

From "'Keep Your Eye On the Ball'; No, Not Golf, It's Babe Ruth," by Ruth (as told to Pegler), in The Chicago Tribune (August 13, 1920), p. 11; reprinted as "How to Hit Home Runs," in Playing the Game: My Early Years in Baseball (2011), p. 29