A baseball fan is a spectator sitting 500 feet from home plate Who can see better than an umpire standing five feet away.
—Anonymous
There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.
—Casey Stengel (1890–1975) American Sportsperson
Baseball is an island of activity amidst a sea of statistics
—Unknown
Next to religion, baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
Ideally, the umpire should combine the integrity of a Supreme Court judge, the physical agility of an acrobat, the endurance of Job and the imperturbability of Buddha.
—Indian Proverb
Pitch within yourself
—Tom Seaver (1944–2020) American Baseball Player
That’s the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on the ball.
—Bill Veeck (1914–86) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks in batting practice
—Casey Stengel (1890–1975) American Sportsperson
In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.
—Unknown
You can’t think and hit the ball at the same time.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose-unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
Baseball is like driving, it’s the one who gets home safely that counts
—Tommy Lasorda (1927–2021) American Baseball Player, Coach
Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good too.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
When we played softball, I’d steal second base, feel guilty and go back
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
Baseball is what gets inside you, it lights you up, its supposed to be hard. If it wasn’t hard everyone would do it. The HARD is what makes it great
—Indian Proverb
I never thought home runs were all that exciting. I still think the triple is the most exciting thing in baseball. To me, a triple is like a guy taking the ball on his 1-yard line and running 99 yards for a touchdown.
—Hank Aaron (1934–2021) American Baseball Player
We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
I never blame myself when I’m not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn’t my fault that I’m not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
It ain’t like football. You can’t make up no trick plays
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Today is your day! Your mountain is waiting. So… get on your way.
—Theodor Seuss Geisel (‘Dr. Seuss’) (1904–91) American Children’s Books Writer, Writer, Cartoonist, Animator
Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is eighty percent of being a successful hitter. The other twenty percent is just execution.
—Hank Aaron (1934–2021) American Baseball Player
Ain’t no man can avoid being born average, but there ain’t no man got to be common.
—Satchel Paige (1906–82) American Baseball Player
You win a few, you lose a few. Some get rained out. But you got to dress for all of them.
—Satchel Paige (1906–82) American Baseball Player
The pitcher has got only a ball. I’ve got a bat. So the percentage of weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting.
—Hank Aaron (1934–2021) American Baseball Player
Baseball is the only game left for people. To play basketball, you have to be 7 feet 6 inches. To play football, you have to be the same width.
—Bill Veeck (1914–86) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
If people don’t want to come out to the ball park, nobody’s going to stop them.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Baseball is the only major sport that appears backwards in a mirror.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
Traditional gag notice hung in offices and factories at a time period when all games were played during daylight hours
—Indian Proverb
This is a game to be savored, not gulped. There’s time to discuss everything between pitches or between innings.
—Bill Veeck (1914–86) American Sportsperson, Businessperson
They are supposed to be dispassionate dispensers of Pure Justice, icy islands of emotionless calculation. In short, umpires should be acute Republicans
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
You teach me baseball and I’ll teach you relativity…No we must not You will learn about relativity faster than I learn baseball
—Albert Einstein (1879–1955) German-born Physicist
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel, not just to be as good as someone else but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game.
—Ted Williams (1918–2002) American Sportsperson
If you get fooled by a pitch with less than two strikes, take it.
—Ted Williams (1918–2002) American Sportsperson
All requests for leave of absence on account of grandmother’s funeral, sore throat, housecleaning, lame back, turning of the ringer, headaches, brain storm, cousin’s wedding, general ailments or other legitimate excuses must be made out and handed to the boss not later than 10 a.m. on the morning of the game
—Indian Proverb
A ball player has got to be kept hungry be become a big leaguer. That is why no boy from a rich family ever made the big leagues.
—Joe DiMaggio (1914–99) American Baseball Player
You can’t sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You’ve got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That’s why baseball is the greatest game of them all.
—Earl Weaver (1930–2013) American Baseball Player, Manager
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
When I was a small boy in Kansas, a friend of mine and I went fishing…. I told him I wanted to be a real Major League Baseball Player, a genuine professional like Honus Wagner. My friend said that he’d like to be President of the United States. Neither of us got our wish.
—Dwight D. Eisenhower (1890–1969) American Head of State, Military Leader
A baseball park is the one place where a man’s wife doesn’t mind his getting excited over somebody else’s curves
—Brendan Behan (1923–64) Irish Poet, Novelist, Playwright
Winners make goals, losers make excuses
—Unknown
Baseball wrong – man with four balls cannot walk
—Indian Proverb
The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don’t play together, the club won’t be worth a dime.
—Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American Baseball Legend
No matter how good you are, you’re going to lose one-third of your games. No matter how bad you are you’re going to win one-third of your games. It’s the other third that makes the difference
—Tommy Lasorda (1927–2021) American Baseball Player, Coach
Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series
—Tommy Lasorda (1927–2021) American Baseball Player, Coach
I see great things in baseball. It’s our game – the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us
—Walt Whitman (1819–92) American Poet, Essayist, Journalist, American, Poet, Essayist, Journalist
You can’t think and hit at the same time
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
You can observe a lot by watching.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson