Tris Speaker Quotes

I have no idea what my batting average was in high school, but I know it wasn't below .450, and that's pretty good hitting where I come from.

Ted Williams is one of the best hitters ever to play the game, and I didn't get a chance to see him play, so all I could do was read books and look at pictures.

Ted Williams was the greatest hitter I ever saw, but DiMaggio was the greatest all around player.

Cobb is a prick. But he sure can hit. God Almighty, that man can hit.

We need just two players to be a contender. Just Babe Ruth and Sandy Koufax.

I could hit the damn ball. No matter who was throwing. Or where the ball was. I left the bench swinging. I didn't get many walks.

Now I've had everything except for the thrill of watching Babe Ruth play.

The best compliment you can give a hitter is he's a tough out; that initiates fear in a pitcher.

I saw a lot of good hitters but I never saw a better one than Paul Waner. I mean I once threw a side arm spitter right into his belly and he hit it into the upper deck.

Baseball's rich in wonderful statistics, but it's hard to find one more beautiful than Stan Musial's hitting record. He didn't care where he was, he just hit.

I don't plan on writing biographies of great sports stars who are still playing ball. But I did write one on Jackie Robinson, who was playing ball in the 20th century.

It seemed like I always did some great hitting in Brooklyn. The field there was close to the stands. Every time I started walking to the plate, I could hear the fans say, 'Here comes that man again. Here comes that man.'

I didn't think much about batting average when I was playing.

People think of the greatest home run hitters of all time and think of Babe Ruth; they don't think about that Warren Spahn hit more than anybody.

Baseball needs more superstars.

Some great players, like Ted Williams and Stan Musial, had one more great hitting season left around the age of 40.

I'm not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference.

When I hit a home run I usually didn't care where it went. So long as it was a home run was all that mattered.

I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice.

Now the advantage is all with the hitters.

David Ortiz is a genius. He's incredible to watch. Over and over, he hits home runs that are simply transcendent.

Joe Morgan was the one guy that absolutely put our team really over the top. ... Then we had George Foster come in; Ken Griffey Sr. was as good a two-place hitter as there has ever been in the game, and Cesar Geronimo won four Gold Glove awards. I mean, how could you ask for a better team?

I'm not afraid to swing the bat. If they elect to pitch to me, I'm going to swing. I'm not as picky as Mr. Sheffield. I'll swing at something over my head.

You should have seen Willie Wells play shortstop: as good as Ozzie Smith and a better hitter. How I wish people could have seen Ray Dandridge play third base, as good as Brooks Robinson and Craig Nettles and all of those. He was bowlegged; a train might go through there, but not a baseball.

I loved coming up with players in scoring position and I had to drive them in.