THROWBACK THURSDAY“If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant’s life, she will choose to save the infant’s life without even considering if there is a man on base “ ~ Dave Barry
Oh, somewhere in this favoured land the sun is shining bright;
The band is playing somewhere; and somewhere hearts are light;
And somewhere men are laughing; and little children shout;
But there is no joy in Mudville-- mighty Casey has struck out.
~ Ernest Lawrence Thayer, Casey at the Bat
"You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.”
~ Joe DiMaggio, on Opening Day
"Slump ? I ain’t in no slump. I just ain’t hittin’.”
~ Yogi Berra
"Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many players on the field?“
~ Jim Boulton
"All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter that ever lived.’”
~ Ted Williams
"Since baseball time is measured only in outs, all you have to do is succeed utterly; keep hitting, keep the rally alive, and you have defeated time. You remain forever young.”
~ Roger Angell
"Cub fans, by consensus, are the best in baseball. Year after year, in good times and (mostly) bad, they turn out in vociferous numbers, sustaining themselves with a heavenly choir that combines loyalty, criticism, cheerfulness, durability, rage, beer and hope, in exquisite proportions.”
~ Roger Angell
"Trying to sneak a fastball past Hank Aaron is like trying to sneak the sunrise past a rooster.”
~ Joe Adcock
“They were starting to hit the dry side of the ball.”
~ Lew Burdette, on when he knew it was time to retire
“It’s designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything is new 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.
“People ask me what I do in winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.”
“Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
~ Bob Feller
“I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to keep playing baseball.”
~ Pete Rose
“When you’re in a slump, It’s almost as if you look out at the field and it’s one big glove.”
~ Vance Law
“The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don’t have to ask anyone or play politics. You don’t have to wait for the reviews.”
~ Sandy Koufax
“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
Initially published in September 2008
