Joe Torre Quotes

Fastball middle-middle. You can't miss that pitch.

I was short with my fastball and breaking ball.

I never resorted to the spitter until I was obliged to. I nearly ruined my arm throwing curves.

The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball.

I never threw the spitter, well maybe once or twice when I really needed to get a guy out real bad.

The three most important pitches I threw in my life were all fastballs.

I have to go with the approach I had in Triple-A. I need to take a lot of those fastballs I am seeing to left field. Also must gear up for the changeup and take them up the middle.

There's no easier pitch to hit than a splitter that doesn't do anything.

If you can't see the rotation and tell if it's a sink - a fastball, then you have to be able to tell whether that fastball is a two-seamer or a four-seamer. You have to be able to recognize if it's a slider or a curveball. You have to be able to recognize if it's a changeup or a split-finger.

I'm a breaking-ball pitcher.

If someone throws you a good slider, you're not going to hit it. You've got to always hunt those ones that kind of pop up or hang thigh-high or up.

The pitcher is in trouble, not me. He has to throw it over the plate and I have to put a good swing on it.

I've been fortunate with the changeup. I've been able to throw it for strikes.

Pardon me, Mr. Craig, but how are we going to defense Mr. McCovey... in the upper deck or the lower deck?

Gentlemen, for the first 60 feet that was a hell of a pitch.

The Yankees have twenty-five heroes.

Putting the Yankee uniform on every day.

When I first signed with the Yankees, the regulars wouldn't talk to you until you were with the team three or four years. Nowadays the rookies get $100,000 to sign and they don't talk to the regulars.

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

Trying to hit Sandy Koufax was like trying to drink coffee with a fork.

In my opinion, I've had the greatest job in the world. I got a chance to be the shortstop for the New York Yankees, and there's only one of those. And I always felt as though it was my job, was to try to provide joy and entertainment for you guys, but it can't compare to what you brought me. So for that, thank you very much.

We are the New York Yankees

My curveball is a blessing. My father taught it to me. He felt that it was a pitch he wanted me to learn, right on the side of the house, and it just ended up working. I never asked what the tricks were, or anything like that.

I know who's the best pitcher I ever see and it's old Satchel Paige, that big lanky colored boy. My fastball looks like a change of pace alongside that little pistol bullet ole Satchel (Paige) shoots up to the plate.

It (the slider) just rolls off of your index finger and begins it's spin which will take it down and across the plate (hopefully). Just remember not to twist your elbow or wrist. It should be thrown, with the wrist and grip set, just like your fastball, slightly off center - with the same velocity and intensity.