The best possible thing in baseball is winning the World Series. The second best thing is losing the World Series
—Tommy Lasorda (b.1927) American Baseball Player, Coach
Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball, the rules and realities of the game.
—Jacques Barzun (b.1907) French-born American Historian, Philosophers
A team of giants needs giant pitchers who throw good ideas but every pitcher needs an outstanding catcher. Without giant catchers, the ideas of the giant pitchers may eventually disappear.
—Max De Pree (1924–2017) American Businessman
Baseball is 90 percent mental. The other half is physical.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona. Not all holes, or games, are created equal
—George Will (b.1941) American Columnist, Journalist, Writer
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
Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in
—Casey Stengel (1890–1975) American Sportsperson
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
Little League baseball is a very good thing because it keeps the parents off the streets
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
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
Don’t look back. Something may be gaining on you.
—Satchel Paige (1906–82) American Baseball Player
Managing is getting paid for home runs someone else hits.
—Casey Stengel (1890–1975) American Sportsperson
The saddest day of the year is the day baseball season ends
—Tommy Lasorda (b.1927) American Baseball Player, Coach
I know a man who is a diamond cutter. He mows the lawn at Yankee Stadium
—Unknown
You can’t think and hit the ball at the same time.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Next to religion, baseball has furnished a greater impact on American life than any other institution
—Herbert Hoover (1874–1964) 31st American President
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
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
Baseball is the only major sport that appears backwards in a mirror.
—George Carlin (1937–2008) American Stand-up Comedian
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
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
Things could be worse. Suppose your errors were counted and published every day, like those of a baseball player.
—Unknown
It ain’t over ’til it’s over.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted, if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end
—Tom Seaver (1944–2020) American Baseball Player
Baseball is an island of activity amidst a sea of statistics
—Unknown
Never let the fear of striking out get in your way.
—Babe Ruth (1895–1948) American Baseball Legend
Traditional gag notice hung in offices and factories at a time period when all games were played during daylight hours
—Indian Proverb
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
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 wrong – man with four balls cannot walk
—Indian Proverb
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
If people don’t want to come out to the ball park, nobody’s going to stop them.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.
—Ted Williams (1918–2002) American Sportsperson
When we played softball, I’d steal second base, feel guilty and go back
—Woody Allen (b.1935) American Film Actor, Director
A good lawyer makes a bad neighbor.
—English Proverb
Winners make goals, losers make excuses
—Unknown
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 (b.1927) American Baseball Player, Coach
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
In the great department store of life, baseball is the toy department.
—Unknown
You can’t think and hit at the same time
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
We didn’t lose the game; we just ran out of time.
—Vince Lombardi (1913–70) American Football Coach
Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
—Robert Frost (1874–1963) American Poet
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
What is both surprising and delightful is that spectators are allowed, and even expected, to join in the vocal part of the game…. There is no reason why the field should not try to put the batsman off his stroke at the critical moment by neatly timed disparagements of his wife’s fidelity and his mother’s respectability
—George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950) Irish Playwright
You can observe a lot by watching.
—Yogi Berra (1925–2015) American Sportsperson
I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks in batting practice
—Casey Stengel (1890–1975) American Sportsperson
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
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