Jim Bouton Quotes

I like to see my name in the box score.

Most of the managers are lifetime .220 hitters. For years pitchers have been getting these managers out 75% of the time and that's why they don't like us.

In terms of merit, sports has mathematical statistics. That's how you know who the best player is.

If I stay healthy, I have a chance to collect 3,000 hits and 1,000 errors.

I never played for numbers.

Parker's grand slam is the same as going 4 for 4, even though he went 1 for 4.

The best thing about the New Year is your 4.90 ERA disappears and starts back at zero.

There was but one question he left unasked, and it vibrated between his lines: if gross miscalculations of a person's value could occur on a baseball field, before a live audience of thirty thousand, and a television audience of millions more, what did that say about the measurement of performance in other lines of work? If professional baseball players could be over- or under valued, who couldn't?

Wise is what you want to be. Smart is easy compared to wise.

I don't want to be smart, because being smart makes you depressed.

Sometimes I need to look at the scoreboard to figure out whether I'm batting hundred-plus or whether I am on zero.

Smart is knowing if you're dumb. Knowing when to shut up and to listen to people that are smarter than you.

If you can't be seven feet tall, be seven feet smart.

Gary Lineker has now scored 37 goals. That is precisely twice as many as last year.

Though 'Moneyball' had the talents of screenwriters Steven Zaillian and Aaron Sorkin going for it, they weren't baseball insiders.

I like to score and drive in runs more than pay attention to batting average.

The game of baseball is a game of failure because it's so difficult to play. A 300 hitter, a superstar fails seven out of ten times at the plate. So what does that tell you about the game and its difficulty?

One absolutely cannot tell, by watching, the difference between a .300 hitter and a .275 hitter. The difference is one hit every two weeks.

Only dumb people try to impress smart people. Smart people just do what they do.

If you are halfway smart, and you could really listen to the audience, you could really learn a lot.

Actually, most people don't think I have too much sense because I would rather be fairly intelligent and act dumb instead of not having any sense at all and try to act smart.

I didn't even realize it was a grand slam (number thirty-one) because I was mentally preparing myself for Andy Benes because he struck me out the first time.

I'm tall and smart. If you're aggressive and energetic it can be intimidating for people who aren't very smart themselves.

I'd rather be Jack be smart, than Jack be quick. Watch out for the man with the big fat licking stick.

Some guys are football smart and they're not smart in other ways. Other guys get 1500 on their SATs and can't get a double-team block right. No, that definitely, in my experience, sometimes it correlates, sometimes it doesn't. I don't think you just take it for granted.