John Montgomery Ward Quotes

Even though I play a professional sport now, I love college baseball.

I had 12 years under my belt of baseball at the amateur level before I got to the big leagues.

When I started playing the game of baseball, the more I played and the better numbers I got, the more I started thinking about the Hall of Fame. But I never thought I had a chance to be there.

Until my senior year, baseball and basketball were my best sports; and even when I was a senior, I still wanted to play baseball professionally. But the family wanted me to go to college, and I guess I agreed with them, or else I would have accepted some of the offers I got.

At ten I was playing against 18-year-old guys. At 15 I was playing professional ball with the Birmingham Black Barons, so I really came very quickly in all sports.

I thought I was a pretty good shortstop, but I also wanted to play in the major leagues.

This is something I've wanted to do my whole life is play baseball, and I think just the opportunity to put on a big-league uniform every day is just... you know, people dream of it, but not everybody gets to do it. I'm thankful every day I get to do it.

My dad was a great athlete growing up, and he could never fulfill his dreams of playing professional baseball.

I grew up playing football and baseball and moved on to play college baseball, and, you know, as a kid, my dream was to play professional baseball.

After getting out of the service and going into baseball I never wanted to do anything else.

As a youngster, I enjoyed sport and my ambition was to be a great sportsman.

By the 1880s, baseball was entrenched in the Cape's sandy soil. Semipro teams, commonplace before World War I, were organized into the first Cape Cod League in 1923 - Orleans joined the four original teams five years later. By 1940, the league had foundered on financial shoals and disbanded.

At my growing years of 18 to 21 years old in the Minor Leagues, I dreamed of being a Philadelphia Phillie.

There's a lot to be said for going to baseball games for a living.

By that time I was thinking a little about pro ball and hopeful that someone would draft me.

I wanted to be a professional baseball player.

We have an obligation to spread amateur baseball both at home and abroad. Building up the game at all levels - Little League, Babe Ruth Leagues, the colleges - is in our own self-interest. That's where the pool of talent is - and also of fans.

I wanted to be a football player. Football is a sport that I love, but the more I started playing basketball, the more I started dreaming of playing in the NBA.

Today's Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they're out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.

I kept thinking, 'this must be the coolest job - I'd like to be a professional baseball player.' They were getting paid to play a game, and what a cool lifestyle that was.

I just wanted to go play in the big leagues. But possibly playing for the Yankees is very special.

All ballplayers want to wind up their careers with the Cubs, Giants or Yankees. They just can't help it.

Well, I wanted to play twenty years in the major leagues. I never made it twenty though. I played nineteen.

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

Many medal winners dream of competing in a sport other than the one they're famous for.