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.
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.
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.