Diamond Quotes

"Red Barber announces the Dodger games and he uses expressions--picked them up down South. 'Tearing up the pea patch' means going on a hitting rampage, 'sitting in the catbird seat' means sitting pretty, like a batter with three balls and no strikes on him."

JAMES THURBER

"Many Fans look upon an umpire as a sort of necessary evil to the luxury of baseball, like the odor that follows an automobile."

CHRISTY MATHEWSON

"They call you an extremist if you want integration now--which is the only morally defensible position. To advise moderation is like going up to a stick-up man and saying to him: 'Don't use a gun. That's violent. Why not be a pickpocket instead?' A moderate is a moral pickpocket."

BRANCH RICKEY

"Gentlemen, he was out because I said he was out."

BILL KLEM

"The umpire must be quick witted. He may not, like the wise old owl of the bench, look over his gold-rimmed eyeglasses, inform the assembled multitude that he will take the matter under consideration and then adjourn the court for a week or two to satisfy himself how he ought to decide. No, indeed. He must be 'Johnny-on-the-spot' with a decision hot off the griddle, and he must stick to it, right or wrong, or be lost."

A. G. SPALDING

"Every innovation in baseball except a couple of kookie things that Charlie Finley tried--like orange baseballs and silly uniforms--originated with Veeck. Electric scoreboards, giveaways, fan days, concerts and a pinch hitting midget."

HANK GREENBERG

"I have discovered, in twenty years of moving around the ballpark, that the knowledge of the game is usually in inverse proportion to the price of the seats."

BILL VEECK

"There are two theories on the hitting of the knuckleball. Unfortunately neither of them works."

CHARLIE LAU

"You know, baseball is a matter of razor-sharp precision. It is not a game of inches, like you hear people say. It's a game of hundredths of inches. Anytime you have a bat only that big around, and a ball that small, travelling at such tremendous rates of speed, an inch is way too large a margin of error."

RUBE BRESSLER