W. P. Kinsella Quotes

Yankee Stadium, and the Yankees are so famous for Mickey Mantle, Joe DiMaggio, Lou Gehrig, all of those guys.

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.

(Rogers) Hornsby could run like anything but not like this kid. (Ty) Cobb was the fastest I ever saw for being sensational on the bases.

I will calmly wait for my induction to the Baseball Hall of Fame. Don't I have the numbers to be inducted?

I knew how to read box scores and who the baseball heroes were before I had ever seen or even heard much of a game.

Willie Wells, Ray Dandridge, Leon Day, Buck Leonard, Quincy Troupe, Satchel Paige - earlier than when he was called up - Oscar Charleston and Josh Gibson. You see what kind of talent we had, and guys in the majors knew it too.

I'm proud to be here as a man that has played first base more than anybody in the game of baseball.

I played with 11 Hall of Famers and played against 52 Hall of Famers, and I don't know any of them linked to steroids.

You look at all the great players that they've had and the potential of playing in Yankee Stadium.

I want to be part of Major League Baseball's Hall of Fame, but I don't want to be part of the kind of Hall of Fame that's based on voters' beliefs and assumptions.

When I came into baseball, I had one goal for my career - the Hall of Fame.

There's certainly a large literature around baseball in the U.S.

Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.

There's a man in Mobile who remembers that Honus Wagner hit a triple in Pittsburgh 46 years ago. That's baseball.

I've had heroes in my life - Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth.

Career highlights? I had two - I got an intentional walk from Sandy Koufax and I got out of a rundown against the Mets.

I played with Willie Mays and against Hank Aaron. They were tremendous players, but they were no Josh Gibson.

After Jackie Robinson the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson, I really mean that.

They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.

I love baseball history, and Wrigley Field is as good as it gets when it comes to that.

The Negro League had some of the best players in history. Satchel Paige was probably one of the best pitchers in the history of baseball, and many believe catcher Josh Gibson was a better hitter than Babe Ruth.

When I was in Seattle, I listened to Carlos Guillen and other older players.

I've been a baseball fan in the early part of my life, so through the '70s and the '80s, I was a huge fan. I actually followed the Dodgers back then, back in the Kirk Gibson years, Steve Garvey.

What's the best baseball name of all time? Is it Champ Summers? Clyde Kluttz? Razor Shines? Scipio Spinks? Sibby Sisti? Creepy Crespi? Before you answer, consider that Coco Crisp is not even the game's top Coco, an honor retired by Coco Laboy.

In baseball, there is something electrifying about the big leagues. I had read so much about Stan Musial, Ted Williams and Jackie Robinson. I had put those guys on a pedestal. They were something special. I really thought they put their pants on different, rather than one leg at a time.