Fastball Quotes

It's not fear of striking out that makes me reluctant to step up to the plate. It's the fear of getting hit in the head by a 90 mph fastball, the pitcher coming off of the mound to stomp me with her cleats while I am down, the rest of the opposing team rushing out of the dugout hurling insults as they kick me and spit on me, while all along the crowd in the stands is cheering them on and laughing at my failure. So, no, it's not the fear of striking out that keeps me from stepping up to the plate. ~ Jim Copeland

Losing is the bane and bugbear of every professional athlete's existence, but in baseball the monster seems to hang closer than in other sports, its chilly claws and foul breath palpable around the neck hairs of the infielder bending for his crosshand scoop or the reliever slipping his first two fingers off-center on the ball seams before delivering his two-and-two cut fastball. ~ Roger Angell

You've got to be ready for the fastball. ~ Ted Williams

Pitching is what you have best on the day you work, and if you can't get your fastball over the plate, then maybe you can win with your curve. ~ Tom Seaver

Only a psychological freak could approach a 100-mph fastball aimed not all that far from his head with total confidence. "Lenny ~ Michael Lewis

My dad played for a coal-mining team in eastern Ohio; he was a very good pitcher. If he hadn't hurt his arm, he probably would have got a shot somewhere. He hurt his arm one spring, didn't warm up good enough, couldn't throw a fastball anymore. Another coal miner taught him how to throw the knuckleball. ~ Phil Niekro

I thought I had to show all my stuff and I almost tore the boards of the grandstand with my fastball. ~ Cy Young

Everybody wants to know, 'How do you throw a curveball, how do you throw a slider, how do you throw this and that,' when they can't even locate a fastball. Learn how to control your fastball and then once you've got that, move on to other things. ~ Cliff Lee

Walter Johnson's fastball looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed. ~ Ty Cobb

Most pitchers fear losing their fastball, but since I don't have one, I have nothing to fear but fear itself. ~ Dan Quisenberry

Doubleday's First Law, which states that if you throw a fastball with insufficient speed, someone will smack it out of the park with a stick. ~ Jim Bouton

I know who's the best pitcher I ever see and it's old Satchel Paige, that big lanky colored boy. My fastball looks like a change of pace alongside that little pistol bullet ole Satchel (Paige) shoots up to the plate. ~ Dizzy Dean

I'm a fastball hitter. It's no secret I'm looking for a fastball every pitch. I think it's one of the hardest things to do in sports-to hit a moving baseball. ~ Carlos Delgado

I will send a fastball into the cyber hole. ~ Tim Lincecum

Trying to sneak a fastball by Ted Williams was like trying to sneak a sunbeam by a rooster in the morning, ~ Bob Feller

The fastball is the best pitch in baseball. It's like having five pitches, if you move it around. ~ Luis Tiant

I'm not like a 90-mph fastball kind of guy, but I can hit 70 on radar gun. I hit 70 one time on a radar guy at one of those pitch-and-throw kind of things. I have a pretty good arm for somebody who's not a baseball player. ~ Ben Gibbard

At 19, I was still figuring out how to throw a fastball. ~ Gio Gonzalez

You must not be afraid of small bits of silence. To use it well is the height of confidence and skill for a comedian. It increases the tension in a good way and adds contrast like a curveball complements the fastball of a good pitcher. ~ Franklyn Ajaye

I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them. ~ Hank Aaron

The last batter to hit, blast shattered your hip,
Smash any splitter or fastball-that'll be it. ~ Pharoahe Monch

It (the slider) just rolls off of your index finger and begins it's spin which will take it down and across the plate (hopefully). Just remember not to twist your elbow or wrist. It should be thrown, with the wrist and grip set, just like your fastball, slightly off center - with the same velocity and intensity. ~ Steve Carlton

No baseball pitcher would be worth a darn without a catcher who could handle the hot fastball. ~ Casey Stengel

I guess I prefer the laughs. I couldn't do a whole set of just shocks, but I like throwing a fastball inside every now and then to keep people on their toes. ~ Anthony Jeselnik

I feel like a pioneer with the split-fingered fastball. I was the first one to really throw it pretty much 100 percent of the time. It was a pitch that I had to have. If I didn't have it, I wouldn't have been in the big leagues. ~ Bruce Sutter

I threw a lot more curveballs in college and the minor leagues. Up here, they're looking for that pitch. A curveball is more recognizable out of the hand than a fastball or changeup. They're taking them or hitting the mistakes I make with them. I don't want it to be so recognizable. I'll have to work with that because that was my pitch. ~ Tim Lincecum

My changeup looks like a fastball, but one goes straight and the other goes away from the righthanded hitter. Sometimes it cuts by itself, and I don't know where it's going. ~ Johan Santana

I throw my curveball like Clayton Kershaw and my fastball like Mo'ne Davis. ~ Mo'ne Davis

I've got a fastball, change-up, forkball, curve, slider, knuckle-slider, knuckle-curve, I had about seven pitches I could have used at any time. ~ Chili Davis

John Wetteland had a very good curveball. He threw it for a strike, too, in any count, any situation. But, he really didn't use it much. He didn't want to throw it. He wanted to throw fastball-slider. ~ Jorge Posada

The dumber a pitcher is, the better. When he gets smart and begins to experiment with a lot of different pitches, he's in trouble. All I ever had was a fastball, a curve and a changeup and I did pretty good. ~ Dizzy Dean

Bruce Sutter and his new pitch, the split finger fastball, fascinate the manager of the Cuban national teams. 'We must find out about this new weapon,' he said. 'Are the American hitters plotting to murder him? ~ Thomas Boswell

I'm a power guy. Good fastball. A knuckle curve, which I can throw for strikes. A changeup which sinks down and away from lefties and I can also throw for strikes. ~ Justin Verlander

I'm not executing my pitches. I'm not commanding my fastball, and I get behind in the count. When I try to throw strikes, I'm getting hurt. That's not the way I pitch. ~ Johan Santana

The final release point for the fastball is the tips of your fingers. ~ Steve Carlton

I was short with my fastball and breaking ball. ~ Bruce Sutter

I may be wearing makeup, but I can throw a fastball by you at the same time. ~ Jennie Finch

Once (Stan) Musial timed your fastball, your infielders were in jeopardy. ~ Warren Spahn

I lost the good stuff on my fastball. I had to come up with something to keep me in the league. The knuckler rescued me then. ~ Ted Lyons

I threw all my pitches over the top which was important for me because my slider was hard to tell from my fastball at release. ~ Steve Carlton

I need love like a fastball needs control ~ Javier Velasco

That's when it hit him with the force of a fastball in the chest: He was falling in love with Shane MacKinnon. He hardly knew her, and yet he knew with absolutely certainty that she was everything he'd ever wanted. He wanted to hold her like this for the rest of their lives. He wanted to wipe away her tears. He wanted to make her happy, take care of her, protect her from harm. He wanted to make babies with her and walk beside her as they grew old. He wanted to be buried next to her.
Falling? It was completely nuts, but he couldn't deny it: He was already in love with her. And it scared the crap out of him. ~ Jane Taylor Starwood

When they operated, I told them to put in a Koufax fastball. They did-but it was Mrs. Koufax's. ~ Tommy John

The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball. ~ Tom Seaver