I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That’s when you’ve got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing’s a joke to me. I don’t feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face.
Last year, I was sort of a kid and I was a little scared, I ain’t scared any more.
You got to play a hundred and fifty games a year, so pick your spots. You can miss two games a month; so pick the days you’re gonna be hurt, or you’re gonna rest or you’re gonna have a drink or two. The rest of the time, be on that field.
If I knew exactly what I know now and had it to do over, I’d be a switch hitter. No telling what I could have done.
There is no logical reason why girls shouldn’t play baseball. It’s not all that tough.
I’m sure glad this isn’t my home ball park.
I had many, many, many death threats. I couldn’t open letters for a long time, because they all had to be opened by either the FBI or somebody.
There is no such thing as a bed of roses all your life.
Whatever we do, make sure we clean up baseball.
Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is 80% of being a successful hitter. The other 20% is just execution.
I need to depend on Someone who is bigger, stronger and wiser than I am. I don’t do it on my own. God is my strength. He gave me a good body and some talent and the freedom to develop it. He helps me when things go wrong. He forgives me when I fall on my face. He lights the way.
The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them.
The first thing baseball wants to do is make you a superstar and then say that you owe baseball something. I don’t owe baseball anything. Baseball owes me.
Consistency is what counts; you have to be able to do things over and over again.
I am very proud to be an American. This country has so much potential, I’d just like to see things better, or whatever, and I think it will be.
Looking at the ball going over the fence isn’t going to help.
I think what separates a superstar from the average ballplayer is that he concentrates just a little bit longer.
Baseball needs me because it needs somebody to stir the pot, and I need it because it’s my life. It’s the means I have to make a little difference in the world.
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.
There’s only one way to break the color line. Be good. I mean, play good. Play so good that they can’t remember what color you were before the season started.
You know what the hardest thing is? What nobody wants to understand – is me. People want their memories of me to be my memories of me. But you know what? They’re not.