ROGER MARIS

Every day I went to the ballpark in Yankee Stadium as well as on the road people were on my back. The last six years in the American League were mental hell for me. I was drained of all my desire to play baseball.

You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation.

I think the most privacy I had was when the game was going on.

I don't know if I want to go to New York. They'll have to pay me a lot more money because I like it here in Kansas City.

It's a business. If I could make more money down in the zinc mines I'd be mining zinc.

I feel that I was a good all-around player, I had good speed, a good arm and could play the outfield.

Don't quote me on this, but if they ever manage to ban beer advertising in baseball you can kiss the national pastime goodbye.

I never wanted all this hoopla. All I wanted was to be a good ball player and hit twenty-five or thirty homers, drive in a hundred runs, hit .280 and help my club win pennants. I just wanted to be one of the guys, an average player having a good season.

It's like obituaries, when you die they finally give you good reviews.

I don't want to be Babe Ruth. He was a great ballplayer. I'm not trying to replace him. The record is there and damn right I want to break it, but that isn't replacing Babe Ruth.

Candlestick was built on the water. It should have been built under it.

It would have been a helluva lot more fun if I had not hit those sixty-one home runs.

You hit home runs not by chance but by preparation.

Maybe I'm not a great man but I damn well want to break the record.

It's like obituaries, when you die they finally give you good reviews.

It's a business. If I could make more money down in the zinc mines I'd be mining zinc.

I don't want to be Babe Ruth. He was a great ballplayer. I'm not trying to replace him. The record is there and damn right I want to break it, but that isn't replacing Babe Ruth.

Every day I went to the ballpark in Yankee Stadium as well as on the road people were on my back. The last six years in the American League were mental hell for me. I was drained of all my desire to play baseball.

I think the most privacy I had was when the game was going on.

I don't know if I want to go to New York. They'll have to pay me a lot more money because I like it here in Kansas City.

Don't quote me on this, but if they ever manage to ban beer advertising in baseball you can kiss the national pastime goodbye.

As a ballplayer, I would be delighted to do it again. As an individual, I doubt if I could possibly go through it again.

I feel that I was a good all-around player, I had good speed, a good arm and could play the outfield.

It would have been a helluva lot more fun if I had never hit those 61 homeruns... all it brought me was headaches.

Now they talk on the radio about the record set by (Babe) Ruth, and (Joe) DiMaggio and Henry Aaron. But they rarely mention mine. Do you know what I have to show for the sixty-one home runs? Nothing, exactly nothing.

I never wanted all this hoopla. All I wanted was to be a good ball player and hit twenty-five or thirty homers, drive in a hundred runs, hit .280 and help my club win pennants. I just wanted to be one of the guys, an average player having a good season.