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"A good professional athlete must have the love of a little boy and the good players feel the kind of love for the game that they did when they were little leaguers."
"Do you think it's easy to just walk up to Joe DiMaggio and start up a conversation? I've been around him at old-timers' games, and believe me, he's someone special. It's not easy to walk over and say, 'How ya doin', Joe, whaddya say?' You really feel as though this is the one old-timer you have to call Mister."
"God is living in New York, and he's a Mets fan."
"He had tremendous durability, never got up tight and, as I discovered, had a great sense of humor. The first time I discovered that was at an All-Star game. I was on the mound, and big Frank Howard came to bat, all six foot seven inches and 255 lbs. of him - the same Frank Howard who later became my manager on the Mets. Frank was a terrifying sight at the plate, hitting wicked line drives down the third base line. As I stood on the mound to face him, I noticed my third baseman, Tony Perez, had cautiously backed up into short left field. So had the shortstop. I thought to myself, What am I supposed to do, standing just 60 feet away? I can't move back into a safe area! I knew I'd have to try and throw him fastballs inside or he might kill somebody, probably me, with a liner. I looked at Johnny Bench, my catcher, for a sign. I saw three fingers for a slow change-up. Couldn't believe it. I looked again, and there were the three fingers. I looked up through his mask and saw him laughing at me. So I started laughing, too. Right there on the mound at the middle of an All-Star game!"
"He (Joe Morgan) knew when something needed to be done, and he'd do it."
"If the Mets can win the World Series, the United States can get out of Vietnam."
"If you don't think baseball is a big deal, don't do it. But if you do, do it right."
"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."
"It's (baseball) on the radio and in the newspapers every day, the only game you can follow on that basis. From whatever arm's length you choose, it's always there."
"I wasn't ever much of a Yankee fan."
"Lou Brock, along with Maury Wills, are probably the two players most responsible for the biggest change in the game over the last fifteen years - the stolen base."
"My job isn't to strike guys out, its to get them out, sometimes by striking them out."
"No one had more impact on my career than Gil Hodges. Playing for him was a learning experience, and he was a tower of strength. Not everbody liked him, but everybody respected him. He went about his job in a very professional manner, and it caused me to do the same with my job."
"Ted Williams may have been the purest hitter to ever play the game."
"The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball."
"There are only two places in the league - first place and no place."
"Tug McGraw has got about forty-eight cards in his deck."
"Yeah, but you forgot one thing (reply to fan who started telling him about his career accomplishments), I'm the only pitcher in the history of the Mets who's lost a ball game in the World Series."
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