Top 20 Baseball Quotes of All Time
By C.G. Morelli
Love of Sports Correspondent
Everybody loves a good sports quote.
Ranging from witty insults to deep, sometimes spiritual, insights into life, a legendary line from our favorite athlete can serve as the inspiration that keeps you going, or something that simply makes you laugh.
To me, no sport’s contributed more generously to our supply of sports quotes than the game of baseball. You can easily spend endless hours reading through quotes relating to our nation’s pastime and trying to decide on a small list of favorites.
Trust me. How do you think I came up with my list of the 20 Greatest Baseball Quotes?
Well, you didn’t think I’d keep them all to myself, did you?
So, grab yourself an ice-cold beer, some ballpark franks and a few bags of peanuts and have a look for yourself. And don’t worry, you can toss the shells on the floor … we don’t mind.
Top 20 Baseball Quotes of All Time
20. Honus Wagner, Former Pittsburgh Pirate
“There ain’t much to being a ballplayer, if you’re a ballplayer.”
19. Lou Piniella, Cubs Manager
“Statistics are like bikinis. They show a lot, but never everything.”
18. Leo Durocher, Former Giants Manager
“I have never questioned the integrity of an umpire. Their eyesight, yes.”
17. Al Stump, Ty Cobb Biographer
“Was Ty Cobb psychotic throughout his playing career? The answer is yes.”
16. Richie Ashburn, Former Philadelphia Phillie
“A good leadoff hitter is a pain in the ass to pitchers.”
15. Rocky Bridges, Former Minor League Manager
“There are three things the average man thinks he can do better than anyone else: build a fire, run a hotel and manage a baseball team.”
14. Cy Young, Former Boston Red Sox
“A man who isn’t willing to work from dreary morn ‘til weary eve shouldn’t think about becoming a pitcher.”
13. Hank Aaron, Former Atlanta Brave
“The pitcher has got only a ball. I’ve got a bat. So, the percentage in weapons is in my favor, and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.”
12. Mike Schmidt, Former Philadelphia Phillie
“Anytime you think you have the game conquered, the game will turn around and punch you right in the nose.”
11. Durwood Merrill, Former AL Umpire
“Baseball is the only sport that lets the managers and coaches go out onto the field and rant and rave”
10. Willie Mays, Former New York/San Francisco Giant
Interviewer: “Willie, how do you compare this catch with other catches you’ve made?”
Willie Mays: “I don’t compare ‘em, I catch ‘em.”
9. Johnny Bench, Former Cincinnati Red
“Slumps are like a soft bed … they’re easy to get into and hard to get out of.”
8. Casey Stengel, Former Mets Manager
“Come out and see my Amazin’ Mets. I’ve been in the game a hundred years, but I see new ways to lose I never knew existed.”
7. Stan Coveleski, Former Washington Senator
“Lord, baseball is a worryin’ thing.”
6. Tug McGraw, Former Philadelphia Phillie
“Ninety percent of my salary I spent on booze and women … and the other ten percent I wasted.”
5. Yogi Berra, Former New York Yankee
“Slump? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin’.”
4. Ted Williams, Former Boston Red Sox
“All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’”
3. Jim Bouton, Former New York Yankee
“You see, you spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball; and in the end, it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.”
2. Lou Gehrig, Former New York Yankee
“Today, I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the Earth.”
1. W.P. Kinsella, Author of “Shoeless Joe” (adapted to the screen as “Field of Dreams”)
“The one constant through all the years has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It’s been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game, is part of our past. It reminds us of all that once was good, and what could be again.”
It goes without saying that subjectivity isn’t something you can really apply to a list such as this. Therefore, it’s inevitable one or more of your favorite quotes went missing. Here’s your chance to tell us which ones would make your list.
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Comments
paulie knep on 07/28 at 06:24 AM
Great list C.G. I like the idea. No “It ain’t over til it’s over.?
Conditional Love on 07/28 at 09:39 AM
You could really do a Top 20 with all Yogisms…
Andrew on 07/28 at 11:47 AM
#1 threw me for a bit of a loop. I assumed the list only included quotes from field personnel and no movies. There are so many different sources of great baseball quotes it almost seems mandatory to break it down by subtopic:top 20 baseball quotes from movies, by sportswriters, Yogiisms, broadcaster calls...there’s so much material to choose from.
Brad on 07/28 at 07:26 PM
Speaking of broadcaster calls, you could probably do a top ten or twenty of just those from the various sports. Things like “And we’ll see ya tomorrow night!” or “Now there’s a steal by Bird....”
Joe on 07/29 at 07:38 AM
I’m disappointed that none of the brilliant quotes from Ichiro Suzuki made the list. He could probably fill out a top-20 by himself, but here’s my recent favorite:
“Playing on this team and seeing what is happening around me, I feel that something is beginning to fall apart,” Ichiro said, through a translator. “But, if I was not in this situation, and I was objectively watching what just happened this week, I would probably be drinking a lot of beers and booing.”
mike on 07/29 at 07:41 AM
“Bob Gibson is the luckiest pitcher I ever saw. He always pitches when the other team doesn’t score any runs”
-Tim McCarver
mike on 07/29 at 07:47 AM
“Baseball isn’t statistics, it’s Joe DiMaggio rounding second base”
-Jimmy Breslin
mike on 07/29 at 07:49 AM
“Whitey and I figured out once that each year I hit about fifteen long outs at Yankee Stadium that would have been home runs at Ebbets Field. In my 18 years I would have gotten 270 additional home runs if I’d been a Dodger.
-Mickey Mantle
Yoker on 07/29 at 08:10 AM
Tug McGraw
Reporter: What do you perfer Turf or Grass..
McGraw: I dont know I never smoked Turf…
Keith on 07/29 at 08:17 AM
“I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.”—Pete Rose
“There’ll be two buses leaving the hotel for the park tomorrow. The two o’clock bus will be for those of you who need a little extra work. The empty bus will leave at five o’clock.”
Andrew on 07/29 at 08:38 AM
“Great trade, who’d we get?”
- Lenny Dykstra, when asked what he thought of the Von Hayes trade.
gary on 07/29 at 08:41 AM
“Tom Seaver is so good, blind people come to the park to listen to him pitch”
- Reggie Jackson
Chad on 07/29 at 09:07 AM
“ You know your having a rough day on the mound, when in the fifth inning the grounds crew comes out and drags the warning track”
Scott Mcgregor- Baltimore Orioles
eric on 07/29 at 09:09 AM
“Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three out of ten times and be considered a good performer.” - Ted Williams
Chris Masci on 07/29 at 09:11 AM
“I hope he arouses the fire that’s dormant in the innermost recesses of my soul. I plan to face him with the zeal of a challenger.” - Ichiro Suzuki
Also, # 6, the Tug McGraw quote, was also stated by legendary footy boozer George Best. Not sure who said it first, though..
lambo on 07/29 at 09:53 AM
This should have been at least #2 on the list if not #1
“ the hardest thing to do in baseball is hit a round ball with a round bat squarely”
Ted Williams
Mike Wuest on 07/29 at 10:05 AM
People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring. ~Rogers Hornsby
Steve Kuncio on 07/29 at 10:12 AM
Bob Gibson to Tim McCarver on an ill-advised mound visit: “Get out of here. The only thing you know about pitching is that you can’t hit it!”
Michael on 07/29 at 10:22 AM
How about the opening of ‘The Green Fields of the Mind’ by Bart Giamatti?
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone. You count on it, rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive, and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops.”
Tom Schipani on 07/29 at 11:38 AM
Good list - but what about these :
“Can’t anybody here play this game?” (Casey Stengel), and
“It ain’t over ‘till it’s over.” (Yogi)
“Here goes Ralph (Houk) out to the mound - he’s either gonna bring in the rightie or the leftie.” (Phil Rizzuto)
RT on 07/29 at 12:39 PM
“Mostly I just hits ‘em where they ain’t"-Wee Willie Keeler explaining his hitting success.
Rob on 07/29 at 01:43 PM
“That son of a bitch was born on third base and thought he’d hit a triple.” ~Billy Martin talking about George Steinbrenner
Andy on 07/29 at 03:53 PM
“I never called a balk in my life. I didn’t understand the rule.” --Former AL Umpire Ron Luciano
Davis on 07/29 at 04:05 PM
Skip: You guys. You lollygag the ball around the infield. You lollygag your way down to first. You lollygag in and out of the dugout. You know what that makes you? Larry!
Larry: Lollygaggers!
Skip: Lollygaggers. - Bull Durham
Andy on 07/29 at 05:08 PM
Crash Davis: Don’t think. It can only hurt the ball club.
Strikeouts are boring and besides that they’re facist. Roll some ground balls. It’s more Democratic.
You’ve got to play this game with fear and arrogance.
Ted on 07/29 at 07:15 PM
Yogi Berra
“If the people don’t wanta come out to the ballpark, nobody’s gonna stop ‘em.”
Micheal on 07/29 at 07:53 PM
“Lets play two.” Ernie Banks
The earlier quote was that a man can fail 7 out of 10 times, not succeed 3 out of 10
ray seva on 07/29 at 08:28 PM
“90-percent of this game is half-mental.”
-Yogi
MAN (introducing Yogi to Ernest Hemingway): “Yogi, I’d like to introduce you to one of the most important writers in History...Ernest Hemingway.:
YOGI: “What paper you with, Ernie?”
Bruschi for President on 07/30 at 03:13 AM
Great list.
One of my favorites is from John Kruk: “I’m not an athlete. I’m a baseball player.”
Todd on 07/30 at 05:11 AM
Still love Yogi’s - “Nobody goes there anymore it’s too crowded”.
Jim on 07/30 at 06:19 AM
“Willie Mays’ glove is where triples go to die”
Jim Murray Pulitzer Prize winning sportswriter
Winston on 07/30 at 06:43 AM
Babe Ruth - “Just one superstition. Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.”
lbcorp on 07/30 at 07:27 AM
“Good players.”
- Yogi Berra, when asked what it takes to be a good manager.
lbcorp on 07/30 at 07:42 AM
“I had a better year.”
- Babe Ruth, when asked why he thought he was worth the $80,000 salary he was demanding when President Hoover made only $75,000.
lbcorp on 07/30 at 07:49 AM
“I always thought the knuckleball was the easiest pitch to catch. Wait ‘til it stops rolling, then go to the backstop and pick it up.”
- Former catcher Bob Uecker
lbcorp on 07/30 at 07:56 AM
“I don’t believe what I just saw!”
- Broadcaster Jack Buck, as Kirk Gibson hobbled around the bases after hitting a pinch-hit walk-off home run in Game 1 of the 1988 World Series.
lbcorp on 07/30 at 08:05 AM
“On matters of race, on matters of decency, baseball should lead the way.”
- Former Baseball Commissioner A. Bartlett Giamatti
dan on 07/30 at 09:15 AM
“Hey… Dad? You wanna have a catch?”
Field of Dreams
Dale Naughton on 07/30 at 04:06 PM
What about A League of Their Own.
“There is no crying in Baseball!”
And -
Gina Davis going home with her husband who has returned from the war:
Gina - “It’s too hard”
Hanks - “It’s supposed to be hard. That’s what makes baseball great. If it was easy, everyone would do it.”
Vince on 08/01 at 02:56 AM
Best quote I’ve heard, Tommy LaSorda, then the LA Dodgers third base coach said to Pete Rose, the Cincinnati Reds third baseman at the time:
“Rose, your the second best lookin guy on your team. The other 24 are tied for first”
Senior on 08/06 at 05:45 PM
This is not a baseball qoute but; Son, I want to let all know how proud I am of you and your work. “Never give up what you love doing.”
Dad
C.G. on 09/16 at 05:47 AM
Thanks to everyone who contributed to this list.
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