Major League Quotes

Major League Baseball is the best league in the world, full of capable hitters up and down every single lineup. ~ Ron Darling

Andrew Carnegie loved libraries; he knew their importance to an educated society and as anchors to our communities. And so, just as some loyal baseball fans travel to attend games at all 30 major league stadiums, over the last decade or so, I have slowly, casually, visited Carnegie libraries whenever I am on the road. ~ Sam Weller

Jamie Moyer was in his third year as a major league pitcher and was, by his own admission, still wide-eyed, watching everything going on around him and soaking it in. He paid particular attention to older teammates on his Chicago Cubs squad, hoping to emulate habits that had allowed those veterans to extend their careers. ~ Don Yaeger

I'm honored and excited to be chosen to lead MLSE, a world-class sports and entertainment organization with the major league teams, premier facilities and employee team that rank with the very best across North America and internationally. ~ Tim Leiweke

As an american, you're born aiming so high - boys want to play in the major leagues, girls want to be princesses. We're cultivating little champions. It's like the land of little champions. ~ Steven Conrad

Between me and my roommate, we've hit 400 Major League home runs. ~ Bob Uecker

Major league baseball has asked its players to stop tossing baseballs into the stands during games, because they say fans fight over them and they get hurt. In fact, the Florida Marlins said that's why they never hit any home runs. It's a safety issue. ~ Jay Leno

Then it dawned on him: these people were hanging around to see the man who was taking on the challenge of breaking the color barrier in Major League Baseball. That settled it - he wouldn't quit the team. He couldn't quit the team. ~ Doreen Rappaport

I can buy baseball cards to view an entire career on the back of a little square of cardboard. But nobody sells major league father cards with key statistics on the back ("Had a great season in 2005: set career highs in unforced expressions of affection and averaged 87 minutes of quality time per day.") ~ John Ortberg Jr.

Jay Z got Cano a big raise, but he got him an extra 30-day vacation
and it's called October, ~ Pete Rose

I love Major League Soccer, covered the first game in 1996 in a funky stadium in San Jose, and I applaud just about every move that its commissioners, Garber and Doug Logan, have made. ~ George Vecsey

Some kids dream of joining the circus, others of becoming a major league baseball player. I have been doubly blessed. As a member of the New York Yankees, I have gotten to do both. ~ Graig Nettles

The day Mother Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? killed Father The Outlaw Josey Wales, they were arguing again about the Pre-Reddening game of Major League Baseball. ~ Nick DiChario

When you see Major League Baseball putting academies in other countries, obviously that throws up a red flag. You wonder why they ain't going up in our neighborhood. Bottom line, what I see, I talk about ... I see it over and over. If anybody can show me I'm wrong, then show me. ~ Gary Sheffield

A major league pitching coach is a really difficult job. It takes a big commitment in terms of time, travel and workload. ~ David Cone

Dave Concepción exceeded everyone's expectations - everyone's except, perhaps, his own. That's because as a kid, Concepción idolized Major League Hall of Fame shortstop and fellow-Venezuelan Luis Aparicio, and he aspired to become that same caliber of player. ~ Tucker Elliot

Whether you're playing in the minor leagues or major-league divisions, wherever you are, it's always nice to be recognized as an All-Star. ~ Gaby Sanchez

As a scouting department, with the confidence we have in our player development, if a guy has the potential that we think they have and the makeup and they stay healthy, we think they will be a productive Major Leaguer. We take a lot of pride in that. ~ Roy Clark

Too many kids today are playing major league ball and don't belong there. ~ Joe DiMaggio

My major league debut came at old Busch Stadium on Grand Avenue in St. Louis against the Pittsburgh Pirates. ~ Steve Carlton

The street to obscurity is paved with athletes who can perform great feats before friendly crowds. ~ George Allen, Sr.

I'm anxious to face them (major league pitchers) all, but in reality I'm looking forward most to (Boston's) Pedro Martinez. He was with the major league team that came to Japan in 1996, just before he became a superstar. I'm anxious to see how much he's improved. And I'm anxious to see how much I've improved against him. ~ Ichiro Suzuki

Major League Baseball should retire Roberto Clemente's number, just like they did Jackie Robinson's. ~ Carlos Beltran

Vagisil. Any one of them will give you another two to three inches drop on your curve ball. Of course if the umps are watching me real close I'll rub a little jalapeno up my nose, get it runnin', and if I need to load the ball up I just ... (wipes his nose) ~ Eddie Harris

Major League Baseball's labor negotiations involve two paradoxes. The players' union's primary objective is to protect the revenues of a very few very rich owners - principally, the Yankees'. The owners' primary objective is a more egalitarian distribution of wealth. The union believes that unconstrained spending by the richest three teams pulls up all payrolls. Most owners believe that baseball's problems
competitive imbalance, the parlous financial conditions of many clubs
result from large and growing disparities of what are mistakenly treated as 'local' revenues. ~ George Will

The only thing that keeps this organization from being recognized as one of the finest in baseball is wins and losses at the major league level. ~ Chuck LaMar

The Indians franchise is more than a century old. It's been called the Blues, the Bronchos, and the Naps. It's also been called a lot worse during hard times when the team wasn't winning. ~ Tucker Elliot

Baseball in the Navy always was much more fun than it had been in the major leagues. ~ Bob Feller

The fourth major league game I ever saw in person, I was in uniform. ~ Ryne Sandberg

One time I was doing a speech to a group of kids, and just before I get there, I see this little kid crying. I found out they just lost a game, and he was the losing pitcher. I went over there, put my arm around him, and said, 'What are you crying for? When major league players lose, they don't cry.' ~ Tommy Lasorda

To be able to play baseball for those nine innings in front of a major league crowd is a special privilege. ~ Mark Teixeira

Letting him manage in the major leagues is like sending Bo Derek through cellblock A without a bodyguard. ~ Bill James

My dreams do not end with playing Major League Baseball. ~ Derek Jeter

The positive psychology field has taught us about the benefits of optimism and happiness. One study correlated the life spans of Major League Baseball players with their smiles. In 2010, researchers Ernest Abel and Michael Kruger analyzed 230 baseball cards from 1952, a time when cards featured athletes looking straight at the camera. The results will make you want to smile.
* Players not smiling had an average life span of 72.9 years.
* Players partially smiling had an average life span of 75.0 years.
* Players with a full smile had an average life span of 79.9 years. ~ Jim Afremow

Growing up, I looked up to major league baseball players, and now these young women have amazing, incredible women all across the board, from swimming to gymnastics to softball to basketball. It is incredible how far women have come and women in sports have come. ~ Jennie Finch

Major League Baseball is a national institution and we take our responsibilities seriously when it comes to how the game affects the lives of American youth. ~ Bud Selig

When you start out in this business, the Hall of Fame is not what you're thinking about. You think all you want to do is make it to the major leagues. That's your goal, and that's your ambition as a broadcaster, just as it is with playing. ~ Hank Greenwald

You can learn a lot from a professional baseball player, if you can get one, which obviously you can't. ~ Dimitra Ekmektsis

That's what every young kid thinks about when they first put on a uniform - is to play in the Major League and then, ultimately, play in a World Series. To me, that was the ultimate, winning in '86. ~ Gary Carter

I played on the 2001 team, the team that won the most games in the history of Major League Baseball and also I played on one of the worst teams of Major League Baseball. ~ Ichiro Suzuki

Major League Baseball has prostate awareness for two weeks leading up to Father's Day, and I want to get involved in that. ~ Steve Garvey

I think sometimes Hall of Famers might get labeled as guys who aren't suited for a coaching job or to be back at the Major League level. ~ Ryne Sandberg

But I want you to know that what I'm doing here I'm doing as a ballplayer, a major league ballplayer. ~ Curt Flood

The conservatives won. They turned the Democrats into a center-right party. They got the entire country singing 'God Bless America,' stress on God, at every single major-league baseball game. They won on every fucking front, but they especially won culturally, and especially regarding babies. In 1970 it was cool to care about the planet's future and not have kids. Now the one thing everyone agrees on, right and left, is that it's beautiful to have a lot of babies. The more the better. Kate Winslet is pregnant, hooray hooray. Some dimwit in Iowa just had octuplets, hooray hooray. The conversation about the idiocy of SUV's stops dead the minute people say they're buying them to protect their precious babies. (221) ~ Jonathan Franzen

My motive, and I will make it clear and look you in the eyes, is to attack major league baseball. That's my motive. ~ Jose Canseco

The concert we give is winning. And if all the people in our organization whose instrument is scouting of player development or major league scouting or player knowledge, all play well, we're going to have the most beautiful symphony of success. And I think we have. ~ John Schuerholz

Major League Baseball has the best idea of all. Three years before they'll take a kid out of college, then they have a minor league system that they put the kids in. I'm sure that if the NBA followed the same thing, there would be a lot of kids in a minor league system that still were not good enough to play in the major NBA. ~ Bobby Knight

I just really like writing and making television shows. There are ego rewards in doing battle with other television programs in prime time in the main season. I suppose there are times when I might look at that and think that's the major league. But when you look at it, ultimately would I really want to gamble my livelihood and my ability to connect with my fan base or write a show that I really like writing, or in some cases direct a show that I really like directing, for the sake of winning an ego battle? It's totally not worth it. That stuff is so ephemeral. ~ Matt Nix

And then when I went to stay in '68, I can honestly say that I was not focused on my career and on what it took to be a major league pitcher and to be a starting pitcher. ~ Nolan Ryan

The greatest feeling in the world is to win a major league game. The second-greatest feeling is to lose a major league game. ~ Chuck Tanner

Baseball in Canada is like soccer in the U.S. It is growing, and some people are starting to gain interest. The way that there are Americans playing high-level soccer, there are Canadians breaking into the Major Leagues. ~ Joey Votto

This is a sad day for the Minnesota Twins, Major League Baseball and baseball fans everywhere. I loved Kirby deeply. A tremendous teammate, Kirby will always be remembered for his never-ending hustle, infectious personality, trademark smile and commitment to the community. ~ Carl Pohlad

The Florida State League was considered the top A-league back then. You played in the spring training parks of major league teams, traveled throughout some great cities in Florida, and the pay was the best in A-ball. ~ Jim Evans

Not many people get to the major leagues and succeed right away. There are some struggles. Everyone seems to struggle. ~ George Brett

San Antonio is an ideal market for Major League Soccer. It's time that we put our best foot forward. ~ Julian Castro

Say it turns out to be the gun, and it's going to be major-league coincidence if it doesn't, you're going to want to know whose gun it is, and if I tell you that I'll have to tell you how I know it's his and if I tell you that I'll have to tell you things I don't want to tell you."
"But now that we know you've got it," Lundquist said, "we can sort of insist."
"True," I said.
"And you know how hard we can insist when we feel like insisting. ~ Robert B. Parker

A lot of people think Major League's called Wild Thing. As they should. ~ Charlie Sheen

Sometimes are feats aren't so fabulous, they're just dubious - but either way, they're fun to talk about. ~ Tucker Elliot

You can't know what it's like to be a major league umpire unless you were a major league umpire. ~ Doug Harvey

I got an offer in 1992 to buy a major-league team. I turned down the offer because I don't want my love of the game to involve business. ~ Garth Brooks

Speed is what makes the Premiership exciting. The millions who would have watched Manchester United and Chelsea would have seen a non-stop game in which the pace was electric even though the first half was a non-event. You could see a better technical game in Spain but for sheer frenetic movement there is nothing that comes close ... Pace is more critical in the Premiership than in any other major league and if you don't have pace, you have to compensate with power or ability in the air and since Shevchenko has no power and is not particularly good in the air, he is in trouble. ~ Alan Hansen

I always wanted to be a major-league baseball player. ~ Bryce Harper

There were never a lot of attacks on my work. We were building more parks than were ever built in the city, building more recreation centers, fixing more streets. We had national events, the Super Bowl, the (Major League Baseball) All-Star game, Final Four. We built seven hotels. The city hadn't built a hotel in 20 or more years. ~ Kwame Kilpatrick

I can't remember a major league game where I could make eye contact with my dad. I kept wondering if he was going to yell at me for hanging a pitch or something. ~ David Cone

Ted Williams hit 17 career grand slams. He is the toughest batter to get out in major league history. It was never fun for opposing pitchers to have to face him, but that was never more true than it was when there was nowhere to put him - and his grand slam total is only one of the many franchise records that he owns. ~ Tucker Elliot

There is a double-standard between men and women. My father was a major league baseball player, and I grew up thinking I could have the same attitude on the field that he did. When I did that in real life, people thought I was a total bi-atch. ~ Katie Uhlaender

I had a .200 lifetime batting average in the major leagues, which tied me with another sports great averaging 200 or better for a ten-year period: Don Carter, one of our top bowlers. ~ Bob Uecker

Man, I've got a Rolls-Royce. Big house. Limo. All those things. This is why every kid's dream is to be a major-league ballplayer. ~ Lou Whitaker

I'd like to help educate kids about the Major Leagues - what to anticipate, what to expect, what they'll need to do to prepare themselves. ~ Barry Bonds

I remember I thought I should become a doctor, even though I had no talent for science whatsoever. Then of course, until I was about sixteen, I thought I might have a shot as a major league baseball player. But once I hit my full adolescence I lost all interest in that. I discovered, in rapid succession, books, girls, alcohol and tobacco, and I've never turned back. Those are the four things I'm most interested in. ~ Paul Auster

Major league baseball is about the history of the game. Baseball history is so important. It's so much more than money. ~ Joe Torre

High school games would just as big a deal to me as any major league game. ~ Jim Bouton

The interesting thing is that it seems like George W. Bush would have been happy being the president of anything. He could have been president of Major League Baseball. ~ Eddie Vedder

My mom is always with me. When I made my major-league debut I told her, 'That's it. You don't work anymore. I'm going to work and take care of you.' ~ Melky Cabrera

Baseball people are generally allergic to new ideas; it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms, and it is the hardest thing in the world to get Major League Baseball to change anything - even spikes on a new pair of shoes - but they will eventually ... they are bound to. ~ Branch Rickey

Other teams have offered me really big money but my love for Galatasaray is real. I want to play in major leagues and my dream team is Liverpool F.C. As I always mention, Liverpool attracts me because of their tradition. In Europe, I am a Liverpool supporter, so if I go to play in Europe, I would like to play for them. ~ Arda Turan

I became a major league manager in several cities and was discharged. We call it discharged because there was no question I had to leave. ~ Casey Stengel

The career batting average (.254) during parts of five Major League seasons for Francisco Cabrera - which proves that it takes only one big hit, on the right stage, to become a legend. Cabrera is still honored in Atlanta, and rightfully so, for winning the 1992 NLCS vs. Pittsburgh. ~ Tucker Elliot

My life has changed in many ways, both on an economic and personal level. All major league players are accorded the respect they deserve. In Cuba, it was not that way. National team players were not respected. The treatment was not adequate. ~ Yoenis Cespedes

Always wanted to be a Major League player. Loved baseball. Followed it. Loved to play. Plus, I could always hit. ~ Stan Musial

We'll probably only consider a handful of individuals. We'll bring up people who can accumulate either innings or at-bats, so we can hopefully gauge where they stand as a prospective Major Leaguer. ~ Dan O'Brien

Not only was I not the best catcher in the Major Leagues, I wasn't even the best catcher on my street! ~ Joe Garagiola

I don't know how long we talked about that game the first time my dad showed me the ticket stub. He admitted he hadn't even been sure that he still had it, that he was surprised when he'd been able to find it. But we've spent hours and hours and hours talking about it since. And it's pretty amazing, because that ticket stub sat in a box for two decades - once it let my dad into a stadium to see a baseball game, and then later, it let me into my dad's world, into his past, to learn about the man who taught me to love a game so passionately that it shaped nearly every aspect of my life. ~ Tucker Elliot

This illuminates not only fans' interest in major league teams but also the minors and even Little League. ~ John Thorn

I don't want to be a Major League coach. ~ Barry Bonds

I think the outside world can learn a lot about how to act by watching a major league clubhouse. I don't think you want to do everything the same, but there's a lot of things I think people could learn from. ~ Terry Francona

Major League Baseball Rule 6.08(b) suggests that in this situation, the batter would be considered "hit by pitch," and would be eligible to advance to first base. ~ Randall Munroe

Baseball in the Negro Leagues was a little bit rougher, a little bit sweeter, a little bit faster, a little bit cooler, and a little bit more fun than anything... in Major League baseball. ~ Joe Posnanski

When it comes to BULLSHIT ... BIG-TIME, MAJOR LEAGUE BULLSHIT ... you have to stand IN AWE, IN AWE of the all time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion. ~ George Carlin

One of the things I want ... all the kids here to remember, is that these [Major League Soccer] stars were not born superstar athletes ... Many of them started out just like many of you-playing on a team at school, or just kicking a ball around on the playground with their friends. But they stuck with it. And I tell this to my girls all the time. I mean, you get to the point when ... things you enjoy ... start getting hard-that's when you know you're getting good, and you have to stick through it. ~ Michelle Obama

As early as 1999, Major League Baseball Commissioner Allan H. ("Bud") Selig had taken to calling the Oakland A's success "an aberration," but that was less an explanation than an excuse not to grapple with the question: how'd they do it? What was their secret? ~ Michael Lewis

Many of the greatest black athletes of all time played baseball for no money and no recognition. I'm just sorry many major league fans never got to see them play, because many of them were awesome. ~ Monte Irvin

While I'm no Major League Baseball prospect, I have thrown a few no-hitters in my day. And not only were there no hitters, there was also nobody there to catch. ~ Jarod Kintz

My dream was to play Major League baseball. I've lived that dream. ~ Scott Rolen

I want to be the first player to show what Japanese batters can do in the major league. ~ Ichiro Suzuki

Anyone interested in becoming a professional umpire and becoming eligible to work in the minor leagues must attend one of the two umpire schools sanctioned by Major League Baseball. ~ Jim Evans

The Cubs are a major league baseball team based in Chicago. Apparently, the team was once cursed by a goat and is doomed now to never win the World Series. The 71 seats [auctioned by the Chicago Board of Exchange] are adjacent to the Cubs' dugout on the third-base line. This is an unnecessary detail needed to give color to what would otherwise be a dull and uninspiring narrative. ~ Rakesh V. Vohra

Major league baseball players and owners should meet immediately to enact the standards that apply to the minor leagues, and if they don't, I will have to introduce legislation that says professional sports will have minimum standards for testing. I'll give them until January, and then I'll introduce legislation. ~ John McCain

Due to the NFL lockout, I'm excited to be able to follow my childhood dream of playing for a Major League Soccer team. ~ Chad Ochocinco

The first intimation I had that the Yankees were for sale was through an item to that effect in the newspapers. The idea instantly occurred to me that here was a prospect to become interested in a major-league club at home. ~ Jacob Ruppert