Baseball Quotes - Page 14

Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business. But what is most truly is is disguised combat. For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps.

If someone wants to lead a double life, they will find a way to do it. And they can promise you things until your nerves unfold and you can finally put up your feet. But it can all be a lie. There are no guarantees, even when people mean what they say at the time. People change their minds. People die. And the hurt is as real as a baseball bat.

Don't look back. Something might be gaining on you.

Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow's game.

I want you to remember the guiding principles of my life. You can be what you want to be, if you believe in yourself and work hard, because anything, and I'm telling you anything, is possible.

The most amazing thing I've ever seen was Jay Johnstone, in uniform, in line at a concession stand in Dodger Stadium after the game had already started.

A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.

You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.

You know what God told the Cubs? Don't do anything until I come back.

There ought to be some other means of reckoning quality in this the best and loveliest of games; the scoreboard is an ass.

All that proves is that most of the world is too poor to build bowling alleys, golf courses, tennis courts and baseball fields. There's hundreds of millions of poor people out there who still ain't got indoor plumbing, but that don't mean there's something great about an outhouse. Soccer is boring. I've never seen a more boring sport.

I never thought home runs were all that exciting. I still think the triple is the most exciting thing in baseball. To me, a triple is like a guy taking the ball on his 1-yard line and running 99 yards for a touchdown.

When I played football, basketball and baseball, I was always a starter. I played baseball as the number three or number four hitter. Playing baseball, I was the third baseman or pitcher. Football, I was the quarterback. I was always versatile. It came to me naturally. It was always easy.

Whatever I contributed to the unique morale of the Cardinals was part of this growth, and so, of course, was my decision to have it out in public with the owners of organized baseball.

Because of baseball I smelled the rose of life. I wanted to travel, and to have nice clothes. Baseball allowed me to do all those things, and most important, during my time with the Crawfords, it allowed me to become a member of the brotherhood of friendship which will last forever.

The highlight of my baseball career came in Philadelphia's Connie Mack Stadium when I saw a fan fall out of the upper deck. When he got up and walked away, the crowd booed.

Hold a baseball in your hand ... Feel the ball, turn it over in your hand; hold it across the seam or the other way, with the seam just to the side of your middle finger. Speculation stirs. You want to get outdoors and throw this spare and sensual object to somebody or, at the very least, watch somebody else throw it. The game has begun.

When you've learned to believe in yourself, there's no telling how good a player you can be. That's because you have the mental edge.

I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.

Hating the Yankees is as American as pizza pie, unwed mothers, and cheating on your income tax.

Thank God for baseball.

Slumps are like a soft bed. They're easy to get into and hard to get out of.

To keep going in baseball, you have to learn all the time. I love to play. When I can't get outs, I'll stop.

Baseball is just a game, as simple as a ball and bat, yet as complex as the American spirit it symbolizes. A sport, a business and sometimes almost even a religion.