Ben Zobrist Quotes

We lived near a playground that had four baseball diamonds on it, and when I got to be 11, 12 years old, I was always over at the ballpark practicing or playing or doing something pertaining to baseball. And when I wasn't doing that, I was bouncing a rubber ball off the steps of my front porch at home.

My father got me involved in the game when I was four years old.

Wiffle ball was my first experience hitting left-handed.

My earliest childhood memories are of my dad putting a basketball in my hand and playing with me in our backyard.

My dad was the force behind me early on. He was just infatuated with baseball. He was the one that basically taught me how to play the game. He gave a lot of his time working out with me, practicing and taking me to a lot of different games. It was hard work between both of us.

I played Little League in junior high and high school.

Generally in the Little League you're up against a good pitcher who throws like hell. What does the coach say? Get a walk. Isn't that beautiful way to learn to hit? For four years you stand up there looking for a walk.

Whenever I wasn't watching the planes, I was playing community baseball, football, or something like that.

I could always hit. I learned to hit with a broomstick and a ball of tape and I could always get that bat on the ball.

Dad played with me a great deal, as dads should do, and our chief sport was baseball. He bought me a hardball when I was three years old, and he used to sit in a rocker on the front porch while I sat on the grass in the yard, and we'd play catch by the hour.

My dad introduced me to baseball. Then one of my friends asked if I could play on a team; my dad said I could, and I just fell in love with the game.

When I can 10 or 11, my mom was the one out there catching passes for me. She was my prime receiver.

I wish I could play little league now. I'd be way better than before.

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.

Baseball was a dream I gathered more splinters than hits.

My dad was my coach in baseball and early on in basketball, so playing baseball was something we always did.

I was a baseball guy. Mom wouldn't let me play football when I was little because she was scared I'd get hurt. So, I finally convinced her to let me play in 7th grade.

My father was a really good athlete, so his pop-ups really were sky high. Eventually I learned how to judge them properly and catch them well. It was great training for when I started to play on teams, which I did all through school.

I didn't play organized football until I was in the seventh grade. Up until that point, I only played at recess and in the backyard.

Most parents were, like, Little League coaches and all that. My dad was a wrestling fan. Instead of going out and playing home run derby with my old man, we just watched wrestling together.

I go out there every day, take early batting practice, fly balls.

I grew up playing in the outfield and junior year of high school I went over to first base and got some tidbits from my dad, but it kind of came naturally to me.

My kids would watch from the window and wave to me during batting practice.

We had a normal childhood. I played baseball, and we played violin in orchestras three times a week. I learned more from that than anything else.

Baseball was popular in the summer, but hockey was big most of the time. With five brothers, you never escaped it. We had an indoor rink in our town, and all the boys would play on it right through high school.