I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.
Pete Rose
It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square.
Somebody's gotta win and somebody's gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.
If somebody is gracious enough to give me a second chance, I won't need a third.
See the ball; hit the ball.
There's other ways to make your head and muscles bigger than just steroids.
Sliding headfirst is the safest way to get to the next base, I think, and the fastest. You don't lose your momentum, and there's one more important reason I slide headfirst, it gets my picture in the paper.
The greatest competitor was Bob Gibson. He worked so fast out there and he always had the hood up. He always wanted to close his own deal. He never talked to you because he was battling so hard. I sure as hell don't miss batting against him, but I miss him in the game.
I'm just like everybody else. I have two arms, two legs and four-thousand hits.
Sparky Anderson taught me this a long time ago: 'There's three ways you can treat a person. You can pat 'em on the butt, you can kick 'em in the butt, or you can leave 'em alone.'
Obama's a great speaker. Because of his speaking ability and his appearance, a lot of guys got on board. Being the first African American, a lot guys got on board.
I met Gerald Ford. I met Richard Nixon. I met Jimmy Carter. I met Dwight Eisenhower when he was a general. George Bush senior. I haven't met Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, although I got a letter from him.
Never bet on baseball.
There is no doubt that because I am a switch hitter I have one of the best offensive advantages that a hitter can have.
Sometimes, when you don't have spark, someone in the dugout has to create something.
Willie Mays could throw better, and Hank Aaron could hit more home runs. But I've got enthusiasm. I've got desire. I've got hustle. Those are God-given talents, too.
Doctors tell me I have the body of a thirty year old. I know I have the brain of a fifteen year old. If you've got both, you can play baseball.
I never gave up as a player, and I won't give up as someone who wants to go to the Hall of Fame, because it's the ultimate goal for a baseball player or a football player or a basketball player.
I get accused of talking about records. But it's the guys who interview me who ask about them.
Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone.
In the old days, you know, they didn't have batting cages. And in most ball parks, they only had one runway to the dugout.
I'm built like my dad. Stocky, strong.
I was born on the day Lincoln was shot and the Titanic sank.
Umpires got power, man. You ever notice if you go to a ballpark and there's a close play on first base, they will not run the replay at the ballpark? I've seen umpires go underneath and call up and say if you run one more of those replays, we're gonna forfeit the game. That's how strong their union is.
Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.
If you screw up and do something, don't lie about it; come clean.
Who cares if you bunt for a base hit?
Since 1869, baseball has been doing pretty well.
Brooks Robinson belongs in a higher league.
I bet on the game of baseball and I bet on my team, even the mistakes I made, I have to take a different look at someone betting against their own team... that's throwing the game.
We were so poor when I was a kid that I had a sister who was stamped, 'Made In Japan.'
I came to Vegas because I work 20 days a month here; I couldn't live anywhere else.
The game of baseball is better when the Dodgers are playing well, just like when the Yankees are playing well, or the Cubs, the Phillies, the big-name teams.
When you ask people about guys they didn't like because they were aggressive, there's me, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors; not too many names would come up.
I'm not going to go back to gambling; I mean, it's as simple as that.
I look at the records, and you don't win the Cy Young seven times or the MVP without being a good player.
I'm not sure Mark McGwire was a Hall of Famer to begin with.
I owe baseball. Baseball don't owe me a damn thing.
I admitted I bet on baseball, but I wasn't suspended from baseball for betting on baseball.
When somebody wants to interview me, I've always got something to say.
I would think if someone connected to steroids made the Hall of Fame, that would enhance my chances of making the Hall of Fame.
No one ever asked what was my relationship with Bart Giamatti. We used to talk about baseball a lot as a player and a commissioner, just talk about the game, what could we do to help the game, where's the game going, he was pretty good.
A team will take on its manager's personality. If it's a laid back manager, you'll have a laid back personality. The players will see that if it's OK for the Manager to be laid back, then you'll have a laid back team.
I still gamble, but it's all legal. I own horses, and I go to watch my horse. I don't go daily.
Your obligation as a base runner is to try and be safe within the rules. OK?
I am grateful that I live in a nation where most believe that one's punishment should fit their wrongdoing and that ours is a nation that judges an individual by both what he has done and how he has changed.
You don't dominate any sport when you're over 40.
No matter how many times you say you're sorry, somebody is not going to hear you.
I always liked the defensive part of baseball.
I had an addiction to play baseball.
