Whitey Ford Quotes

When a batter swings and I see his knees move, I can tell just what his weaknesses are then I just put the ball where I know he can't hit it.

Pitchers are smart. They know they are much better off if they mix things up and keep you off-balance.

In my own case I have frequently faced the pitcher when I had no desire whatever to hit. I wanted to get a base on balls.

I wouldn't throw all spitballs. I'd go maybe two or three innings without throwing a spitter, but I always had them looking for it.

I know when I get to 0-2, 1-2, when I'm ahead in the count, that I hold a distinct advantage over every single hitter. I have so many options because I don't have to work within the strike zone anymore.

If a pitcher goes up there and he's throwing a ball and it's a breaking ball down and away or a fastball up and in, a perfect pitcher's pitch, and you're able to just foul it off and stay alive in the at-bat, just keep grinding, keep working through the at-bat and hoping for that mistake that he's going to make. And if he doesn't, then you walk.

I just try to make the pitcher work.

Every single pitcher is making changes every single start. You can talk to any pitcher about this.

Power over others is weakness disguised as strength.

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

American League teams don't bunt very often. National League teams bunt a lot.

Weak countries always exaggerate their power.

The weak have one weapon: the errors of those who think they are strong.

Ken Holtzman could pitch a game in ninety minutes. Wouldn't throw a breaking ball. And he had a great breaking ball.

Everybody in the league knew I had trouble with the inside pitch. I got away with it only because the great majority of pitchers were afraid of making a mistake in that spot. The threat of power is one of the best weapons you have in the batter's box.

Strikeouts are important. Anytime you can generate an out without the ball being put in play, there's nothing that can be done in those situations.

All I really try to do is whatever hitter gets in there, I just try to get him out in as few pitches as possible.

I'm not trying to strike them out, but there are certain situations, when it's an 0-2 count or a 1-2 count, when I want to have a pitch where I want to strike you out.

At the end of the day, all we're trying to do is get the hitter off balance. Get him in a position where he's not strong in the strike zone.

At this point, I'm just grinding through it, trying to establish strikes in the zone with my pitches, using some information the opposition gives me, and kind of moving forward in that regard.

You never want to be in a defensive mode or have a defensive mindset. You always want to know that you're in control as the pitcher, you make him get hits, you're never passive, always aggressive. If I get beat, I want it to be because I got rocked, got hit hard, never because I walked a couple of guys and before you know it.

When I can buy strikes with that curveball, that just lets everything else play up.

I think my job is to keep the ball down. I always say I try to go out there and get early contact, and strikeouts just seem to happen.

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

Once I get completely right mechanically and with command, maybe I only use two or three pitches to get through seven innings.