Great Quotes

[johnny]

1961
"It was a bad year for the Babe" said by Whitey Ford after he breaks Ruth's 43-year-old record for consecutive scoreless innings in the 1961 World Series.

Anyone else have other pithy quotes?

I 'think' that either Mrs. Ruth or another family member stated that the Babe was actually more fond of the scoreless inning record than the home run record. But I'll defer to the learned baseball scholars here amongst us.

I also recall from the recesses of my mind that the Babe after hitting out number 60 in 1927 said words to the effect 'Now let some other SOB catch that!' but I don't have the exact quote.

[Myankee4life]

"Yankee hurler Lefty Gomez once faced him[Jimmie Foxx] in a key situation at Fenway. Gomez shook off the first sign from catcher Bill Dickey. He shook off the second sign and the third. Finally Dickey called time and strode purposefully to the mound. "I've gone through every pitch you have! What do you want to throw to him?" the Hall of Fame receiver demanded. "If you want to know the truth, Bill," said Gomez. "I was kind of hopin' he'd get bored and go home."


Gomez once described a tremendous homer that Foxx had hit against him. "It went into the third deck at Yankee Stadium," he said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Why, you couldn't walk out there in an hour." When Yankee manager Joe McCarthy inquired about what pitch Double X had hit, the reply was: "It was the greatest pitch I ever threw-for the first 60 feet." Unfortunately, the distance to home plate is 60'6".


And I think this is how this one goes....

A boy once yelled to Al Kaline "You aint half as good as Mickey Mantle" Kaline replied "Son no one's half as good as Mickey Mantle"

And the ones in my sig

[Appling]

A story I recall about Lefty Gomez goes back to when Gomez was batting against a young (and very wild) Bob Feller -- probably in Feller's rookie year.

It was a night game, and Gomez lit a match as he stood at the plate. The catcher laughed and said "That match isn't going to help you see the ball!"
Gomez replied: "I don't care about that. I just want to be sure that Mr. Feller can see me!"

[Sultan_1895-1948]

1961
"It was a bad year for the Babe" said by Whitey Ford after he breaks Ruth's 43-year-old record for consecutive scoreless innings in the 1961 World Series.

Anyone else have other pithy quotes?

I 'think' that either Mrs. Ruth or another family member stated that the Babe was actually more fond of the scoreless inning record than the home run record. But I'll defer to the learned baseball scholars here amongst us.

I also recall from the recesses of my mind that the Babe after hitting out number 60 in 1927 said words to the effect 'Now let some other SOB catch that!' but I don't have the exact quote.

Yeah, you got it right. In the clubhouse he said "sixty, count 'em sixty! Let's see some other SOB match that!"

And then he went on to say, "Will I ever break this again? I don't know and don't care. But if I don't, I know who will. Wait 'til that bozo over there (he pointed toward Gehrig) gets waded into them again and they may forget that a guy named Ruth ever lived."

It was the first time he'd broke his own record in several years, and for the first time he had someone to push him, so it meant quite a bit. He hit 24 in his last 41 games to pull ahead of Gehrig for good. No question Babe was helped with Gehrig behind him in the lineup, and Gehrig's cold streak (2 HR and .275 BA in last 22 games) had a lot to do with him being worried about his mother's upcoming surgery. He told a reporter, "I'm so worried about mom that I can't see straight."

Here's a piece from Paul Gallico about Babe and Lou's HR race of '27-

"The most astonishing thing that has ever happened in organized baseball is the home run race between George Herman Ruth and Henry Louis Gehrig. Gehrig, of course, cannot approach Ruth as a showman and an eccentric, but there is still time for that. Lou is only a kid. Wait until he develops a little more and runs up against the temptations that beset a popular hero.

Ruth without temptations might be a pretty ordinary fellow. Part of his charm lies in the manner with which he succumbs to every temptation which comes his way. That doesn't mean Henry Louis must take up sin to become a box office attraction. Rather one waits to see his reactions to life, which same reactions make a man interesting or not.

Right now he seems devoted to fishing, devouring pickled eels, and hitting home runs, of which three things the last alone is of interest to the baseball public. For this reason it is a little more difficult to write about Henry Louis than George Herman. Ruth is either planning to cut loose, is cutting loose, or is repenting the last time he cut loose. He is a news story on legs going about looking for a place to happen. He has not lived a model life, while Henry Louis has, and if Ruth wins the home run race it will come as a great blow to the pure."

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About the Babe pitching streak, he was very proud of it and of his pitching in general. Seems like he was worried about people not remembering how good he used to be. He didn't bother bragging (aside from usual comments) about his hitting cause it spoke for itself, but he would often remind people (when the subject came up) about his pitching ability and the streak.

His proudest achievement might have been the pitching streak, but he said in 1930 that his biggest thrill was hitting three homers in the '28 Series, including the Sherdel "quick pitch" homer. Also, making the Series ending running catch in foul territory after a long run. Frisch popped it right into the first row of seats, and Babe plucked it from screaming fans who were swatting programs at him. He grabbed it, and just kept running toward the dugout, holding the ball with his barehand high in air.

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A few quotes:

It was hard to have a conversation with anyone, there were so many people talking." - Yogi Berra, on a White House dinner he attended

I was thinking about making a comeback, until I pulled a muscle vacuuming." - Johnny Bench

My goals are to hit .300, score 100 runs, and stay injury-prone." - Mickey Rivers

Going to bed with a woman never hurt a ball player. It's staying up all night looking for them that does you in." - Casey Stengel

[johnny]

Casey Stengel

Man those are some good ones you guys have posted.

Casey had a couple good ones that I seem to recall but will invite a more exact quote. Here is the gist:

On Managing: 'On any team you have a third of 'em that love you just cause your the Manager. You have a third that hate you just cause your the Manager. :grouchy The secret to managing is keeping the remaining third that is undecided apart from the third that hates ya!'

On Late Nights: 'Anything you find at 3 am you really don't want.'

[Dodger Green]

Gomez once described a tremendous homer that Foxx had hit against him. "It went into the third deck at Yankee Stadium," he said with a hint of pride in his voice. "Why, you couldn't walk out there in an hour." When Yankee manager Joe McCarthy inquired about what pitch Double X had hit, the reply was: "It was the greatest pitch I ever threw-for the first 60 feet." Unfortunately, the distance to home plate is 60'6".

I've heard a different version of this, one I prefer more - and I think is the actual true on.

Willie Mays was 0 for 12 in his career as a rookie in 1951. He was down, out, and disappointed. So when he had to go face the Braves and Warren Spahn, people were talking about the great lefty, not the rookie. But in his first at bat against Spahn, Mays' crushes it over the wall in left, out of the stadium, over 500 feet away.

After the game, reporters rush up to Spahn asking "Spahnny! Spahnny, what happened!?"

"Well, gentlemen, I'll tell ya - for the first 60 feet that was a hell of a pitch."

[bluezebra]

Lefty Gomez:

"I'm throwing as hard as I ever did, but the ball is just not getting there as fast."

"He (Jimmie Foxx) has muscles in his hair."

"I'm the guy that made Joe DiMaggio famous."

"I want to thank all my teammates who scored so many runs and Joe DiMaggio, who ran down so many of my mistakes."

"One rule I had was make your best pitch and back up third base. That relay might get away and you've got another shot at him."

"The secret of my success was clean living and a fast outfield."

"When Neil Armstong first set foot on the moon, he and all the space scientists were puzzled by an unidentifiable white object. I knew immediately what it was. That was a home run ball hit off me in 1933 by Jimmie Foxx."

Bob

[Lindseynelson]

Marilyn Monroe on her return from a Korean USO trip " Oh Joe, there were 50,000 men screaming my name. You can't imagine how it felt!" Joe D , with his usual aplomb " Yes , I can"

[RuthMayBond]

I still like the guy who was claiming how he could handle Ty Cobb ,so the Tigers had him come meet them. Cobb hits the guy's first pitch to the track, the next pitch against the wall, the next pitch over the fence, the next pitch FARTHER over the fence, you get the idea. They go to give the guy the hook and he yells (in his "defense"), "I don't even think that was really Ty Cobb!"

[KCGHOST]

After being called out on strikes (a rare thing) Ted Williams flipped his bat in the air. The umpire then said, "Mr. Williams, if that bat comes down you're out of the game".

A rookie pitcher facing Rogers Hornsby complained to the home plate umpire that the first couple of pitchers he threw to the Rajah were strikes, not balls as the umpire had ruled. The umpire responded, "Son when you throw a strike Mr. Hornsby will let you know".

[Brian McKenna]

when one of his men got in an accident at 5am - casey said "sure was a strange time to be mailing a letter"

[CultofCubs]

One of my Favorite Quotes:

"He is so fast, he can switch of his bedroom light and be in bed under the covers before its dark in there"

Satchel Paige speaking of Cool Papa Bell.

[RuthMayBond]

One of my Favorite Quotes:

"He is so fast, he can switch of his bedroom light and be in bed under the covers before its dark in there"

Satchel Paige speaking of Cool Papa Bell.

That's not that impressive, considering that the guy can hit a liner up the middle and have the ball hit him in the backside sliding into second base

[85cards]

This one has been attributed to more than one pitcher as well but Tim McCarver said that Red Schoendienst sent him to the mound to calm down Gibson (hah!) and before McCarver got halfway there Gibby shouted "Get your fat *ss back behind the plate! The only thing you know about pitching is that you can't hit it! "

Now others may say that another pitcher said that, but who does it sound like? Thats 100% Gibson.

[Victory Faust]

At a banquet some time in the 1950s, a fan reportedly asked Ty Cobb, "what would you hit nowadays?"

Replied Cobb: "Oh, about .280."

Fan: "Well, that isn't so great."

Cobb: "Yeah, but you have to remember: I'm 70 goddamn years old."

I wonder if this story is apocryphal, or did it really happen? Mr. Burgess?