Satchel Paige Quotes

Baseball began early for me. When I was 5, my father took two Little League bats and put them on a lathe. He whittled them down and sanded the bats so they were the proper size for my brother and me. He began by throwing tennis balls to us. Eventually, we practiced hitting and fielding at a field near our house.

As a catcher, you can't be afraid. You gotta make fast decisions.

I used to be a pretty good hit-and-run man when I played in the minors. I handled the bat well and could hit the ball to the right side of the infield. Nevertheless, I know that you often give the opposition an out on the hit-and-run play.

It used to be that the hardest thing to cover was underthrown balls. Then coaches began to think, 'So why not start throwing back-shoulder fades?'

That's why, to me, Spring Training is so hard, because every time you go up there, there's a new pitcher, and you have to come up with a new plan.

I think it's hard for someone to play short and then come back to second. It's not the same.

There's plenty of situations where we'll come up with guys on base, less than two outs, and those are opportunities for us to help ourselves out.

The key to hitting a lot of home runs as a player at Kauffman Stadium is that you'd better run into some on the road.

Learn the league, learn the pitchers, learn how they're going to go after you.

I don't really miss pitching in games, and I don't think my arm could hold up. I would still love to try the radar gun, just not pitch on a consistent basis. I'd love to go and try to fire up the gun, though.

I don't mind walking guys as long as I don't give up runs.

You never hit a good slider or curveball; you just try to go after the mistakes.

I'm pretty proud of my fastball. I can throw a screwball. It's not as accurate, and I don't have the velocity like I do with my fastball, but I think my fastball is not too shabby.

I like to hit with men in scoring position.

Outfield to infield is the most jarring because in the outfield, you have much more time to throw.

The only thing Earl (Weaver) knows about big-league pitching is that he couldn't hit it.

Problem with (John) Wockenfuss getting on base is that it takes three doubles to score him.

A successful pitcher keeps the leadoff hitter from reaching first base and puts the first pitch over for a strike - the two most important rules of pitching.

We've got to learn how to stay out of triple plays.

Think. Don't just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who's up next. Think.

Pitching always beats batting — and vice-versa.

The secret of success in pitching lies in getting a job with the Yankees.

Nobody likes the ball low and away, but that's where you're going to get it from me. I been pitching it there 50 years, away from them. That way they can't hurt you. You keep the ball in the park.

A good time to hit is with men on base, because the pitcher ain't got no place to put you. He's going to get that ball around there somewhere. He don't want to walk you.

The last start of spring training, my (cut fastball) was okay. It just wasn't what I wanted it to be. I tried to work on making it cut more and do more. I think that set (the forearm) off ... trying to make it move a lot, cut a lot. I'm just going to back off and trust it a little bit more and not try and push that.