Baseball Experience Quotes

Scouts always think they're right. They're not right all the time. They don't even know how hard it is. Most of those scouts never played baseball.

In my 20 years of baseball, I've been misquoted three or four times, and for someone who talks as much as I do, that's incredible.

I've definitely been to my fair share of Dodger games growing up. Didn't grow up too far from the stadium. That's where I first learned, first watched major-league baseball.

I always appreciated the ex-players. Being a Yankee, you get spoiled. Old-Timers Day, all these guys coming back, spring training, being around them, you get a chance to get to know them. So I always think you learn a lot by listening.

Baseball isn't statistics, it's Joe DiMaggio rounding second base.

Wiffle ball was my first experience hitting left-handed.

I didn't get over 1300 walks without knowing the strike zone.

Some of the longest home runs I've hit, I didn't actually realize they were going that far. Everyone says, 'What does it feel like to hit the ball that far?' Actually, there's no feeling at all. I know when the ball meets the bat whether or not it's left the park. It's a nice easy thing.

When I walked out on the mound, I felt enclosed. You see, I'd been used to playing on pastures, where when somebody hit a ball you had to stop it from rolling. Well, this field had fences around it.

I've faced more than 35 major leaguers, and only two have ever made contact against me.

Harmon Killebrew was a gem. I can never thank him enough for all I learned from him. He was a consummate professional who treated everyone from the brashest of rookies to the groundskeepers to the ushers in the stadium with the utmost of respect.

The first sport I played was baseball. I remember being on the Little League team and someone pitching the ball to me for the first time. I was ready to no longer hit the ball off the tee, and an adult pitched it to me underhand.

I had 12 years under my belt of baseball at the amateur level before I got to the big leagues.

There is still nothing in life as constant and as changing at the same time as an afternoon at a ballpark.

You feel like a stud out there when people swing and miss. As I've gotten older, I've preached to our young guys that strikeouts are sexy, but outs are outs, man, no matter how you get them. It's a lot cooler for me pitching in the seventh or eighth inning than it is going 5 1/3. Your manager likes it a lot more, too.

You never really know baseball until you put on a pair of cleats and get out and play it; and if you play for five years, you still don't really know what it's about.

I've enjoyed my time in the American League, the fans of Southern California and other friendships.

I played on the 2001 team, the team that won the most games in the history of Major League Baseball and also I played on one of the worst teams of Major League Baseball.

I couldn't see well enough to play (baseball) when I was a boy, so they gave me a special job - they made me an umpire.

In baseball, I was a pitcher, which I hated because there was no action there.

When I was a teenager and my brother Frank was in the World Series in '57 and '58 against the Yankees, Braves winning in '57 and the Yankees in '58, little did I know the next time these two teams would meet in the World Series, I would be managing the Yankees.

If you rush in and out of the clubhouse, you rush in and out of baseball.

I was fortunate to play for Pete Rose and have teammates like Ken Griffey Sr., Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion. I grew up in the game with a mature attitude. I've always known it was better to be seen and not heard.

I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was not so good.

My first year in the big leagues, I made $17,000. It was easy to go out and get another $17,000 relief pitcher. I never worried about innings or pitches. I just pitched.