Fans don't boo nobodies.
Reggie Jackson
A baseball swing is a very finely tuned instrument. It is repetition, and more repetition, then a little more after that.
You don't face Nolan Ryan without your rest. He's the only guy I go against that makes me go to bed before midnight.
I didn't come to New York to be a star, I brought my star with me.
Hitting is better than sex.
Babe Ruth was great. I'm just lucky.
You can play football and be the next Jim Brown or play baseball and be the next Reggie Jackson.
I was reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care.
I don't mind getting beaten, but I hate to lose.
If you can't see the rotation and tell if it's a sink - a fastball, then you have to be able to tell whether that fastball is a two-seamer or a four-seamer. You have to be able to recognize if it's a slider or a curveball. You have to be able to recognize if it's a changeup or a split-finger.
If I played in New York, they'd name a candy bar after me.
When I stepped into the box, I felt the at-bat belonged to me. Everybody else was there for my convenience. The pitcher was there to throw me a ball to hit. The catcher was there to throw it back to him if he didn't give me what I wanted the first time. And the umpire was lucky that he was close enough to watch.
In the building I live in on Park Avenue there are ten people who could buy the Yankees, but none of them could hit the ball out of Yankee Stadium.
Nature is extremely important to me. Which may be just about the only trouble I'll have in New York. I'll miss the trees!
I have a hard time believing athletes are overpriced. If an owner is losing money, give it up. It's a business. I have trouble figuring out why owners would stay in if they're losing money.
After Jackie Robinson the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson, I really mean that.
Please God, let me hit one. I'll tell everybody you did it.
Lee May's about the same age as me; he's got about the same stats. So how come he's making about one-eighty, two hundred thousand, and I'm the best damn paid player in the game? I'll tell you why: Because I put the meat in the seats!
The pitcher has the ball, and nothing happens until he lets go of it. So as the batter, I felt I had to fight for any bit of control I could get. I expected the umpire, the catcher, and the pitcher to wait on me. I wanted to get ready on my time.
I do everything as honestly as I can. I give all I have to give. But I don't let people get in my way.
When people push back on you and don't think you can do it, and you struggle a little bit and wonder if they're right, it drives you to be successful and to be a great player.
When I went to home plate in a game-tied situation or with a chance to do something and help the ballclub win one, I'd try to make eye contact with the pitcher.
You know, this game's not very much fun when you're only hitting .247.
I'm a businessman. I bring my bat and glove and attache case to the office and go to work. I don't give a damn if the other workers at the office like me or not.
The only way I'm going to win a Gold Glove is with a can of spray paint.
I'm human and I've played my butt off for ten years. I'm not a loafer, I'm not a jerk, I'm a baseball player.
The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it.
I know how hard it is to shoot the basketball, so I've got great appreciation for it.
The only difference between me and those other great Yankees is my skin color.
The only reason I don't like playing in the World Series is I can't watch myself play.
When you've played this game for ten years and gone to bat seven-thousand times and gotten two-thousand hits do you know what that really means? It means you've gone zero for five-thousand.
When I was with the Yankees in 1978, we were playing Baltimore at Yankee Stadium, and the score was 3 - 3 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I led off against Tippy Martinez - a little left-hander who always gave me trouble - and the count went to three-and-oh.
Ken Holtzman could pitch a game in ninety minutes. Wouldn't throw a breaking ball. And he had a great breaking ball.
If I played today, I'd stay in trouble. I'd be in the commissioner's office all the time, I guess. I'd be everywhere - including where I wasn't supposed to be.
When I hit, I felt I was in control of the home-plate area, and it was important that I felt that way. If I let the pitcher control it, it would give him an advantage.
I'd like to be able to light the fire a little bit.
I never had an understanding of Billy Martin. I did not accept the way he managed me. I did not accept the way he managed Ken Holtzman. I thought there was anti-Semitism there.
Do you have any idea what Ali meant to black people? He was the leader of a nation, the leader of Black America. As a young black, at times I was ashamed of my color; I was ashamed of my hair. And Ali made me proud.
Billy Martin was a human tragedy, in the real sense of the words.
Being a superstar... can make life very difficult, difficult to grow. So I like to visit with my friends, listen to some fine music, drink some good wine, perhaps take a ride in the country in a fine car, or... just walk along the beach.
The greatest manager has a knack for making ballplayers think they are better than they think they are.
When you hit a player in the head, you're more apt to get some fisticuffs or, you know, bring both teams out on the field, but it was more accepted that - in the '50s, '60s and '70s. I think nowadays it's a little over-policed because I will always believe that knocking a hitter down, even hitting a hitter at, sometimes, is part of baseball.
Misconception Number 1, the public always thought, 'Reggie has a massive ego; he's narcissistic, he's cocky, he needs everyone to look at him all the time,' because that's what the media told them. Wrong. I could handle the attention. I didn't let the attention affect my performance. But I never needed the attention.
I didn't see Kirby Puckett as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Gary Carter as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Don Sutton as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Phil Niekro as a Hall of Famer. As much as I like Jim Rice, I'm not so sure he's a Hall of Famer.
I know I never saw Casey Stengel when I was being scouted. And how could you be in a ballpark and not know if Casey Stengel was there?
I am the best in baseball.
October, that's when they pay off for playing ball.
When you take a pitch and line it somewhere, it's like you've thought of something and put it there with beautiful clarity.
Everybody in the league knew I had trouble with the inside pitch. I got away with it only because the great majority of pitchers were afraid of making a mistake in that spot. The threat of power is one of the best weapons you have in the batter's box.
There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There's the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn't want two out of three. I wanted them all.
