There was a popular saying once that in the North the white man didn’t care how close the black man came if he didn’t climb too high, and in the South the white man didn’t care how high the black man climbed if he didn’t come too close.
There’s not an American in this country free until every one of us is free.
The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.
I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.
I don’t think it matters what I believe, only what I do.
Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.
Relationships may change throughout the gift of time, memories stay the same forever in my mind.
If I had to choose between baseball’s Hall of Fame and first class citizenship for all of my people. I would say first-class citizenship.
I don’t like needing anyone for anything.
Baseball, like some other sports, poses as a sacred institution dedicated to the public good, but it is actually a big, selfish business with a ruthlessness that many big businesses would never think of displaying.
You’re going to be a great player, kid.
It kills me to lose. If I’m a troublemaker, and I don’t think that my temper makes me one, then it’s because I can’t stand losing. That’s the way I am about winning, all I ever wanted to do was finish first.
It’s not easy to be a martyr in the field of race relations.
I ought to break this trophy into 32 pieces.
This ain’t fun. But you watch me, I’ll get it done.
If Jesus ever had PMS, he totally would have sinned.
I don’t let my mouth say nothin’ my head can’t stand.
I’m grateful for all the breaks and honors and opportunities I’ve had, but I always believe I won’t have it made until the humblest black kid in the most remote backwoods of America has it made.
It isn’t a perfect America and it isn’t run right, but it still belongs to us. As.
Yell. Heckle. Do anything you want. We came here to play baseball.