“He Kisses Her on the Strikes”
All Star Baseball Hall of Fame Quotations
All Star break is a time for the triple threat of nostalgia, reflection, and wisdom. Baseball cards squeeze statistics into tiny fonts but seldom let the players speak for themselves. That’s all right; most of them would rather do their talking with a Louisville Slugger or a 98 mph fastball!
Here are some classic lines from the field of dreams. Diamond legends have their say on life, liberty, and the pursuit of the line drive into left field. Play ball!
“I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote, and I didn’t know what a quote was. I thought it was some kind of soft drink. - Joe DiMaggio
"If the people don't wanna come out to the ballpark, nobody's gonna stop 'em." - Yogi Berra
"Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal." - Pete Rose
“During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at-bats a season. That means I played 7 years without ever hitting the ball.” - Mickey Mantle
"Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand." - Leo Durocher
“I never took the game home with me. I always left it in some bar.” -Bob Lemon
"If it wasn’t for baseball, I’d be in either the penitentiary or the cemetery." - Babe Ruth
"For all its gentility, its almost leisurely pace, baseball is violence under wraps." - Willie Mays
“It helps if the hitter thinks you're a little crazy.” - Nolan Ryan
"Close doesn't count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades." - Frank Robinson
"If you're going to play at all, you're out to win. Baseball, board games, Jeopardy, I hate to lose." - Derek Jeter
“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
“The way to make coaches think you're in shape in the spring is to get a tan. — Whitey Ford
“There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happens.” - Tommy Lasorda
“It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.” -A. Bartlett Giamatti
“There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.” -Casey Stengel
Extra Innings:
"If my uniform doesn't get dirty, I haven't done anything in the baseball game." - Rickey Henderson
"Fans don't boo nobodies." - Reggie Jackson
"I am convinced that God wanted me to be a baseball player." - Roberto Clemente
“When I was up there at the plate, my purpose was to get on base any way I could, whether by hitting or getting hit." - Shoeless Joe Jackson
"Watching other teams in the World Series is like watching somebody else eat a Hot Fudge Sundae." - Joe Torre
"When you start the game, they don't say 'Work Ball!' They say, 'Play ball!" - Willie Stargell
"I never had a job. I just always played baseball." - Satchel Paige
There ain't much to being a ballplayer, if you're a ballplayer. — Honus Wagner
“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 damn plate and give the other man his chance. That’s why baseball is the greatest game of them all.” — Earl Weaver
"There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all." - Lou Gehrig
"I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That's when you've got to be serious." - Hank Aaron
“Trying to sneak a pitch past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster” — Joe Adcock
“You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.” - Roy Campanella
"Watching other teams in the World Series is like watching somebody else eat a Hot Fudge Sundae." - Joe Torre
“It ain’t bragging if you can do it.” - Dizzy Dean
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