Gaylord Perry Quotes

Once you make the majors, it's never a great feeling to go back to the minors - no matter what the circumstances.

If you go back to the minors, you have to start swinging and hitting the ball again. I've been in the minors since the '70s semipros, let's put it that way.

The last thing I wanted to do was get buried in Triple-A behind prospects.

If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.

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

I started in the lowest league in baseball, and I worked my way all the way up to Triple A and then to the big leagues. I never reached the level that I thought I would reach as a player. But that's the way it goes. So then I started from the bottom as a manager, and I worked my way up to managing the Dodgers for 20 years.

During the years I was still playing, I would go to Puerto Rico in the winter and manage. When the day came, I had the experience without having to go to the minor leagues for four or five years and then wait for an opportunity. Still, there's a double standard. Some whites, like Pete Rose, Joe Torre and Ted Williams, never had to go to the minors.

I wasn't ready for the majors when I joined the Pirates in 1955. I was too young and didn't know my way around.

Your first responsibility is to the organization, to teach and prepare players to get to the big leagues and have them ready when they get there, but everyone in the minors wants to be in the majors.

I played good ball in the minor leagues, and that's why they called me up to the major leagues.

You know, I spent parts of six seasons in the minor leagues and I dealt with some injuries there, I saw a lot of things. I had the safety net of being a first-round pick, so I didn't maybe necessarily experience some of that hardship firsthand, but I watched it break a lot of guys. The strain that it puts on you and your family, it's really tough.

Relegation hurts, of course. It's one of the things that you will keep forever. But you have to move on as soon as you can.

I was relegated with West Ham and you never forget that. Going down, playing in the Championship, I constantly remind myself of that. I still remember the feeling, without doubt, I wouldn't allow myself to forget it.

The disappointment of getting relegated from the Premier League is an awful time for anybody as a footballer.

I didn't know if I could make it to the big leagues without going through Triple-A.

I never forgot the four years I spent with the Phillies, my September call-ups and my big league Spring Trainings. I never forgot that.

I played ball for the Hollywood Blues of the Pacific Coast League, and I thought I was going to be a major leaguer. But I was the only one who seemed to think so.

For some reason, every time I peak in my career, I injure myself. So, I'm constantly on the comeback trail.

When there were just eight teams in each of the big leagues, I was always told, 'It's hard to come up, but it's just hard to stay in the big leagues.' That's because there's always somebody. The Cardinals had so many minor league clubs and had so many good ballplayers.

Everybody in the minor leagues - if you're a player, an announcer, whatever - wants to be in the big leagues.

For a quarter of a century, I've been playing baseball for pay. It has been pretty good pay, most of the time. The work has been hard, but what of it? It's been risky. I've broken both my legs. I've sprained everything I've got between my ankles and my disposition. I've dislocated my joints and fractured my pride.

I felt like the world of baseball in 1919 was much closer to what A-ball would be now - guys riding buses, there's no training staff, and there's a lot of paranoia.

Any time you're in the coaching business or managing in the minor leagues, when you see a player who has made it to the major leagues, you get a thrill out of that.

When I was growing up, I always had the dream of being an analyst for a minor league baseball team or something like that.

I'm very thankful to the Yankees and to Major League Baseball for allowing me to play this game.