Baseball Quotes

TOMMY LASORDA

• “Did you ever hear of a batting-practice pitcher dropping dead? You hear about men dropping dead shoveling snow or mowing the lawn. But not pitching batting practice.” (On why he pitched batting practice)
• “I found out it’s not good to talk about my troubles. Eighty percent of the people who hear them don’t care and the other twenty percent are glad you’re having trouble.” (As manager of the Dodgers)
• “I was so elated that we had finally won the world championship that I spent the entire winter eating. Of course, had we lost, I would have been so unhappy I would have spent the entire winter eating.” (The Artful Dodger)

ERNIE BANKS

• “Did you hear that? I didn’t hear anything. Put that question another way.” (As a former Cub, when asked why his team was so bad during the 1982 season; quoted in Sports Illustrated, August 23, 1982)
• “The riches of the game are in the thrills, not the money!” (After hitting his 500th home run on May 12, 1970. According to the Sporting News,  he jumped up on a chair in the clubhouse after the game and yelled this out.)
• “It’s a great day for a ballgame; let’s play two.” (His signature line)

BUD SELIG (announcing All-Star Game will return to Kansas City for the first time since 1973…we were there!!)

• “There was some concern about this game  (’73 All-Star Game) being played, and it finally was, and I also remember that Ewing [Kauffman] threw quite a party that night at his home. Funny that I remember that 37 years later.”
• “In ’73, you flew in, you watched the game and you got out. Not today. You’re going to be amazed by FanFest and the Home Run Derby. What it is, is a celebration of baseball, and it just gets bigger and bigger and bigger. It’ll be 39 years at that point, but it’ll be worth the wait.”
• “I may come back and do this again because it isn’t often that the Commissioner gets a standing ovation.”