Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
It's the only way I think I'm ever going to walk away from the game, is to go ahead and say I'm going to, and then I've got to. There's no turning back now - win, lose or draw.
New York is great, but the New England fans are probably the most knowledgeable and ardent fans, and not just in baseball, but all sports. But Red Sox Nation is Red Sox Nation.
I don't say anything. One of the reporters asked me in the scrum in there, and I said, no, I didn't say anything to anybody. I can only hurt them right now. I cannot help them.
Not that managing in the American League is easy, but this is certainly different. I'll have to have somebody poke me in the rear end when I have a pitcher that's going to hit.
Let them police themselves, and then it goes another step past them to my coaches and there a coach that is responsible for a different area and different category on the field.
A baseball field must be the most beautiful thing in the world. It's so honest and precise. And we play on it. Every star gets humbled. Every mediocre player has a great moment.
You could have the bases loaded, and you bring up the best pinch-hitter in the world to pinch hit, he hits into a double play, and then all of a sudden: 'How could you do that?'
A slick way to outfigure a person is to get him figuring you figure he's figuring you're figuring he'll figure you aren't really figuring what you want him to figure you figure.
Many children work hard to please their parents, but what I truly longed for was good times that were about us, not about me. That is the real hole the Dodgers filled in my life.
When you permit yourself to lose for more than 30 minutes then it can carry over to the next day. I think it's important to understand that. I think that mindset is contributing.
Stress is something that is sort of out of your control. You get stressed out over looking at the finish line. Stress is something that is an outside thing. Stress is an anxiety.
I know Daniel Murphy is a really good hitter. He's definitely pulling the ball right now for power, although he did go left-central the other night against the Dodgers, I believe.
The trick is to realize that after giving your best, there's nothing more to give... Win or lose the game is finished. It's over. It's time to forget and prepare for the next one.
You can tell your uncle stuff that you could not tell your dad. That is kind of the role of an uncle. I feel very much like a father sometimes but sometimes I feel like a teammate.
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living.
See that fella over there? He's 20 years old. In 10 years, he's got a chance to be a star. Now that fella over there, he's 20 years old, too. In 10 years he's got a chance to be 30.
They say the first World Series is the one you remember most. No, no no. I guarantee you don't remember that one because the fantasy world you always dreamed about is suddenly real.
Those who feel they are clean, go ahead and throw the first rock. If you're clean, if you have not done anything wrong or been accused of anything wrong, go ahead and start the show.
When I'm sittin' down to dinner with the family, stuff [another Yogiism] just pops out. And they'll say, 'Dad, you just said another one.' And I don't even know what the heck I said.
It's nice to have writers write nice things about you and guys on radio and TV say nice things about you, but the guy who's in the locker next to you is the one you play the game for.
I usually stick out my hand and hope he puts the ball in it. Except the one time I went out to take Early Wynn out. I stuck out my hand and he hit me right in the stomach with the ball.
Baseball will miss Steinbrenner. He did a lot of great things-and some not so great-but it's a sad day for baseball, no doubt about it. He was a winner, and he made the Yankees a winner.
I like to have my hand on every single plate that goes out. It's really a good feeling when someone compliments your meal, and you had everything to do with making it. It's very rewarding.
If a club is winning, you never pay attention to a guy who's 0-for-10. If a club is losing, all of a sudden you'll find that he's the main reason why you're losing, which is absurd for me.
I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
I don't know what my expectations are. It's like the word 'potential.' Those two words don't mean a whole lot to me. We can't please everybody. Certainly, we have to please ourselves first.
They told me my services were no longer desired because they wanted to put in a youth program as an advance way of keeping the club going. I'll never make the mistake of being seventy again.
I am truly honored because I know, obviously, what Bob meant to the Twins. I always told myself, when I put a uniform on for the first time in 1998, that I'm going to give everything I have.
He (Mickey Mantle) should lead the league in everything. With his combination of speed and power he should win the triple batting crown every year. In fact, he should do anything he wants to do.
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.
I was not able to understand how it could be right to pay an actor, or a singer, or an instrumentalist for entertaining the public and wrong to pay a ball player for doing exactly the same thing.
Winning is a lot of fun. I remember having a meeting a couple years ago and telling the guys: 'You're not enjoying yourselves.' O'Neill said to me afterwards, 'Skip, it's not fun unless you win.'
One day there were two out in the ninth, and I hit a pop fly so high that the fans got tired of waiting for it to come down. So they all went home and listened to it drop by turning on the radio.
Whether you're trying to excel in athletics or in any other field, always practice. Look, listen, learn - and practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute for work, no shortcut to the top.
I love sharing my knowledge of hitting with others. Now coaches and players at all levels can learn my systematic approach to hitting a baseball with more consistency, mental strength and accuracy.
I was sitting in the back room by myself when someone came in and said, "Mr. Zimmer, I have to take you down to the make up room." I told them that if anyone can help this face they deserve a bonus.
Rolen's the perfect baseball player. It's his tenacity, his preparation, the way he plays. He tries to do everything fundamentally sound. And he puts the team team first-there's no fanfare with him.
When I walked out on the mound, I felt enclosed. You see, I'd been used to playing on pastures, where when somebody hit a ball you had to stop it from rolling. Well, this field had fences around it.
Sometimes you've got to be a little flexible. For the most part, it's hard to get players to look at the big picture also. I understand that. They're looking at their next start or their next at-bat.
First of all, you want umpires to call what they see. In the case of fair or foul, the smartest thing is to call the ball fair. Because if it's called foul and ruled fair, where do we put the runners?
When you go through a full season, some guys are going to get into some bad spots, and you have to stick with them because that's what they are there for, and I think part of it is building confidence.
I was always a little hesitant to accuse people of loading a bat to hit a ball farther. I was always very hesitant to approach people because I never had any evidence that I had firsthand knowledge of.
And luck? I've always said about Dizzy Dean that if the roof fell in and Diz was sitting in the middle of the room, everybody else would be buried in the debris and a gumdrop would drop into his mouth.
I wish everybody had the drive he (Joe DiMaggio) had. He never did anything wrong on the field. I'd never seen him dive for a ball, everything was a chest-high catch, and he never walked off the field.
First of all, Marty Foster is a really good fellow. No. 2, Google or YouTube the time he called Ben Zobrist out on a strike three against Joe Nathan couple years ago that gave Joe Nathan his 300th save.
At IBM everybody sells! Every employee has been trained to think that the customer comes first - everybody from the CEO, to the people in finance, to the receptionists, to those who work in manufacturing.
Pitchers did me a favor when they knocked me down. It made me more determined. I wouldn't let that pitcher get me out. They say you can't hit if you're on your back, but I didn't hit on my back. I got up.
I don't see anyone playing in the major leagues today (1982) who combines both the talent and the intensity that I had. I always tried to do the best. I knew I couldn't always be the best, but I tried to be.
I think the outside world can learn a lot about how to act by watching a major league clubhouse. I don't think you want to do everything the same, but there's a lot of things I think people could learn from.
It's high time something was done for the pitchers. They put up the stands and take down fences to make more home runs and plague the pitchers. Let them revive the spitter and help the pitchers make a living.