Leadership can be defined in one word – honesty. You must be honest with the players and honest with yourself.
Economics played a role. Raleighs have gone from six fifty to nine dollars a carton, but there’s a three-quarter cent coupon on the back. You can get all kinds of things with them, blenders, everything. I saved up enough one time and got Al Bumbry.
I never got many questions about my managing. I tried to get twenty-five guys who didn’t ask questions.
My best game plan is to sit on the bench and call out specific instructions like ‘C’mon Boog,’ ‘Get a hold of one, Frank,’ or ‘Let’s go, Brooks.’
The key step for an infielder is the first one, but before the ball is hit.
Coaches are an integral part of any manager’s team, especially if they are good pinochle players.
Every time I fail to smoke a cigarette between innings, the opposition will score.
I think there should be bad blood between all clubs.
Momentum? Momentum is the next day’s starting pitcher.
If you know how to cheat, start now.
Don’t worry, the fans don’t start booing until July.
You win pennants in the off season when you build your teams with trades and free agents.
Bad ballplayers make good managers, not the other way around. All I can do is help them be as good as they are.
I don’t think, in all the years I managed them, I ever spoke more than thirty words to Frank and Brooks Robinson.
I’d rather you walk with the bases loaded.
I think the National League has better biorhythms in July.
The guy who says, ‘I love the challenge of managing,’ is one step from being out of a job. I don’t welcome any challenge. I’d rather have nine guys named Robinson.
Some have said that I can accept inadequacies in my players but not in umpires. That completely misses the point. I can’t tolerate anyone’s mistake.
We’re so bad right now that for us back-to-back home runs means one today and another one tomorrow.
The only thing that matters is what happens on the little hump out in the middle of the field.
A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don’t know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me.