Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
One of the beautiful things about baseball is that every once in a while you come into a situation where you want to, and where you have to, reach down and prove something.
Being Captain of the Dodgers meant representing an organization committed to winning and trying to keep it going. We could have won every year if the breaks had gone right.
Backyards are as Australian as the Hills Hoists they host, and as individual as those who work and play in them. Whether haven, pantry or playground, they all tell a story.
I think there's a myth that people feel, that people of success are never fearful, that we're never challenged, that we have some supernova - no, we're like everybody else.
You know over 20 years I played for a number of managers and dozens of coaches. I don't know any of them that I didn't learn something from to help make me a better player.
My high school coach was Ray O'Conner. He has coached a lot of players that have signed professional contracts, and many of those have gone on to play in the major leagues.
The first thing I learned from Jeter is to be the same no matter if you are doing good or bad. It is kind of like, play hard every day, and don't take anything for granted.
Ten million years from now, when then sun burns out and the Earth is just a frozen iceball hurtling through space, nobody's going to care whether or not I got this guy out.
We know that as a Christian athlete, people are watching, and so we want to be the best example we can be and show that we are different - that Christ has changed our lives.
I have family and friends who are strong Cardinal fans, and they are having a tough time since I signed. They want to root for me, but rooting for the Cubs is next to a sin.
I've always favored kids as a player. If I walked out of the locker room and there were 100 people there and 50 of them were kids, I'd sign the 50 kids before anything else.
Carlos Ruiz has been there, done that. I've seen it firsthand. He's gotten huge hits off me before in the post-season. He's been there. He's calm. He's confident back there.
I watch all the pitchers I admire. I love watching Cliff Lee. It looks easy for him when he's on the mound; he's almost like an artist. He knows exactly how to get guys out.
When I broke my arm, I knew there was something a lot bigger than baseball (about to happen) ... I had a sense that God had something for me, something bigger than baseball.
I don't know where Hank Aaron will break (Babe) Ruth's record but I can tell you one thing - ten years from the day he hits it three million people will say they were there.
When I think about it, if somebody was to pass Pete Rose's record just playing in Japan, that would be a bigger accomplishment because of the few games they play over there.
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.
A lot of players go into a restaurant and ask for a special table. I go and stand in line with the working people. It's very easy to get spoiled playing professional sports.
If you are used to going five innings and then go six or seven, you won't have your good stuff. They need to start that from the minor leagues and give pitchers strong arms.
I like how in little league they have nine kids who play the field but we have 17 kids on the roster and all 17 kids should hit. I like that we do that down here in Florida.
If you're a manager you can't get frustrated and be emotional. You have to continue to steer the ship, you can't let go of the wheel because who knows where it will go then.
I could dunk a volleyball in high school. I didn't play football because I knew they were going to put me at a fat-guy position, and I didn't want to do that. I am athletic.
The fans appreciate the success the young guys are having now because they know the game is clean, that they've finally got rid of all the performance-enhancing drug issues.
You feel a lot more in your hands if the pitch gets in on you and busts you in the handle. It stings. But when you catch it square, it doesn't seem like you feel it as much.
They use the word 'integrity' in describing a Hall of Famer in the logo of the Hall of Fame, and I think there are gonna be quite a few players that are not going to get in.
You want to see energy, and you want to see guys on the same page. You want guys to work together and have that energy come out onto the field. That's a good place to start.
I had a chance to choose a couple different places and, well, I grew up - I was a small-town kid from Illinois, so No. 1, just trying to win a championship for my home state.
I was only a gun captain on the battleship Alabama for 34 months. People have called me a hero for that, but I'll tell you this - heroes don't come home. Survivors come home.
This is what you work for, putting all the other crap that you hear aside. Just being able to participate in a World Series is pretty much everything. But you do want to win!
There are no war stories. I ended up a bombardier, but I never got overseas. And it wasn't because I was playing baseball either. It was just a series of things that went on.
I didn't know what to expect coming to college. High school was pretty easy and I guess I expected college to be along the same route. It was just an overwhelming experience.
The last thing I want to do is hurt the club's chances of winning. I'm used to playing the game a certain way and at a certain level. When I can no longer do that, I'll quit.
When I first got to the majors in 2004, female fans held up signs asking me to marry them. Those girls today were what, 13, 14? I'm 23, but that's a little young even for me.
I had just turned 20, and Jackie told me the only way to be successful at anything was to go out and do it. He said baseball was a game you played every day, not once a week.
On October 19, 1949, I got a telephone call from the Philadelphia (A's) front office informing me I had been traded to the White Sox for Joe Tipton. I was surprised and hurt.
My main philosophy is that money is a loan from God. I'm in charge of it. I'm responsible for investin it, giving some of it away, providing for my family, and protecting it.
In life there are worse things (then being fired by the Miami Marlins) and I have experienced them. I have lived through bad moments and I will get through this with support.
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.
I don't feel any pressure when I'm up there at the plate. I feel it when I'm in the on-deck circle, but when I'm in the box, it's just me and the pitcher, and I get zoned in.
The great trouble with baseball today is that most of the players are in the game for the money and that's it, not for the love of it, the excitement of it, the thrill of it.
I look back over my career and I almost pissed it away. I got a second chance and I've made the most of my opportunity. I play every game like it's the last game of my career.
They say that dog is man's best friend, and I think it's true. My dog does a lot of the same stuff my best friend does, like drool on my couch, mooch my food and hump my wife.
No one has any license to brag because he is honest. That should be natural instinct and, besides, if you are not, they put you in jail. Honesty is merely a form of insurance.
The majority of the time with two strikes I'll choke up on the bat a little bit to try to stay as short as possible. It doesn't always work out like that, but that's the goal.
People thought the storyline and characters for 'X-Files' made it a 'dark' show, but I never saw it that way. I always thought Mulder and Scully were the light in dark places.
Looking at the players that are truly successful, you see the durability and long careers. Those are the players I respect and look up to. I hope to become a player like that.
I feel it's the best thing that could have happened for me, leaving the Braves so I could go to another team that would give me more of a chance to play like with the Marlins.
Are you sick and tired of men sniveling and whining about how we women want to smother them? If you can still hear them whining you aren't holding the pillow down hard enough.
I am not too serious about anything. I believe you have to enjoy yourself to get the most out of your ability. I can take the criticism with the accolades. Neither affects me.
I'm not going to change the way I work out in the offseason and prepare. I'm not going to change the way I approach the game. I'm not going to change the way I play every day.