I can throw a football all day and my arm doesn't get tired. If I throw a baseball more than a certain amount of time, it's going to get a little sore.
I was a fan of baseball growing up. We played baseball; I used to play in an A&P parking lot. It wasn't always easy to find a good baseball field to play in.
Seven innings, three starts in a row, that's an improvement for me, and that's what I want to do: be out there in the game longer.
When you're spinning a two-seam, getting on the side of the ball to get more run or sink can be good, but it can really be detrimental to your four-seam.
My pitching philosophy is simple. I believe in getting the ball over the plate and not walking a lot of men.
That's when I'm at my best. When I can throw a fastball over in the count, just throw strikes both in and away, it just sets up all my stuff.
I use high velocity to keep hitters off balance.
It's funny what a few no-hitters do for a body.
I could run, but I was throwing 93 mph coming out of high school.
Greg Maddux is probably the best pitcher in all of baseball along with Roger Clemens. He's much more intelligent than I am because he doesn't have a 95 or 98 mph fastball. I would tell any pitcher who wants to be successful to watch him, because he's the true definition of a pitcher.
I use fast curves, pitched overhand and sidearm, fastballs, high and inside, and an underhand fade away pitch with the hand almost down to the level of the knees.
Your body is not made to throw like we throw. That's why you see softball pitchers pitching two or three games a day. It's a natural movement in softball. In baseball it's not a natural movement.
The reason I think I'm a good pitcher is I locate my fastball and I change speeds. Period. That's what you do to pitch. That's what pitchers have to do to win games.
A pitcher's arm goes, and they're done.
When I played, I didn't have the strongest arm, and in a game, I never threw it as hard as I could, either.
Can I throw harder than Joe Wood? Listen mister, no man alive can throw any harder than Smokey Joe Wood.
Sooner or later the arm goes bad. It has to... Sooner or later you have to start pitching in pain.
You can be a two-pitch guy and be successful, but your room for error is very small.
Nothing flatters me more than to have it assumed that I could write prose, unless it be to have it assumed that I once pitched a baseball with distinction.
Pitch me outside, I will hit .400. Pitch me inside, and you will not find the ball.
I learned the slider out of desperation.
When I'm healthy, I can still pitch. I know I can still pitch at that level and get the results that I want.
I threw a good fastball and changeup, but a below-average curveball.
When I was younger and inexperienced, I was a very animated pitcher. I pitched with a lot of adrenaline. I was my own worst enemy when things weren't gong well.
I was short with my fastball and breaking ball.
