Sparky Anderson Quotes

He's (Jack McKeon) been around baseball for twenty-plus years. He knows what it takes to be a manager. I hope he gets the chance.

If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins, but might take five years off his life, he'd take it.

And as a football coach in the National Football League, I know for sure that it's going to end someday.

And then 45 years later, as I finished my career in the great city of Cleveland, that was another great way to end my career, going to the World Series.

My one big regret is that I didn't play on for ten more years.

Too many fighters stay in the game for too long. They stay because it's awfully hard to walk away from the roar of the crowd. Really hard. You live for that and so you stay too long. And you might have a wife and kids to feed. So you keep fighting because you don't know how to do anything else.

My coach keeps telling me to say I'm not going to retire. I should just go through the motions and see what I feel every year and see if I really want to do it, but personally, I want to do it, but my coach says just take your time, don't rush.

I've been fortunate enough to witness some of the biggest moments in football history mere yards away from the action, but I wanted to go out on a high rather than stay too long. I didn't want to get to the stage where people say, 'Oh blimey, Motty's lost it. He's getting the players wrong, and his voice is going.'

You have to retire before you can make the Hall of Fame.

No professional athlete likes to admit that he has played too long. There is too much money involved, rarely enough saved, and there is the eternal hope that age has not withered skills.

I've always been a fan of Derek Jeter. Guys that consistently, throughout a long-term career, that not only have success but are very aware of their situation - I really dig that.

A lot of times late in your career, you don't have a chance to win a championship.

I would like to own the Red Sox.

If I'm healthy and the Chargers still want me to hang around, I'm going to go until they tell me to get out.

If I am still fighting at 35 I will be disappointed.

I don't want to rush into retirement and regret it, because people say play as long as possible until the legs can't take any more.

I think every athlete is afraid for their career to be over.

I retired at 35 in '98 and thought, 'There's only one place to go, and that's downward.' I retired at a good level. I was at peace after 15 years - I was lucky to play that long.

Whether I retire tomorrow or in 20 years, I just want to get as much out as I can. But with that, I have an understanding that basketball's not forever.

It is never easy for a professional cricketer, who has represented his country for 17 years, to forget the past and adopt a new lifestyle.

Some guys go to different teams and as they get older, they just want to ride the coattail of the younger guys. I don't want to do that.

I have seen a lot of top players being forced to retire in not very pleasant circumstances, and I don't want that happening to me.

As a sports person, you are always aware that at some point your career is coming to an end and you have to do something else. I always knew it had to end one day, and I was very determined to make sure I wasn't going to be known as an ex-racing driver.

For me, I just focus on playing, playing at a high level. And when you can't do that any longer, you've got to get off the train.

The New York Yankees' organization - they train us well from the get-go. They tell us how to handle everything.