The good rising fastball is the best pitch in baseball.
When people ask me, "Who was the toughest pitcher you ever faced?", I have to say that there has never been a pitcher who over-impressed me. That's not meant to be a bragging statement. It's just that I get up for good pitchers.
I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.
The three most important pitches I threw in my life were all fastballs.
The hardest thing to do in sports, I think, is to hit a home run.
My mother has the same kind of an arm, even today at 74. She could throw a ball from second base to home plate with something on it. I got my arm from my mother.
I didn't get over 1300 walks without knowing the strike zone.
I know Koufax' weakness. He can't hit.
It's not a bad ball if I can hit it.
I was a good athlete, a good baseball player. A great baseball player, I should say.
Baseball is a sport where being stupid and keeping things really simple a lot of times is the right way to do things. There are very few guys that are capable of processing a lot of information and applying it and still being good at it. … I don't want to name names, but there were guys I played with that were so stupid that they're really good, because their mind never gets in the way.
I can't imagine Joe DiMaggio was a better all-around player than Dale Murphy.
To be able to play as slow as Al Jackson is almost impossible.
I throw better than anybody in college and I can throw with anybody in the pros. There, that's what I think.
I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was not so good.
The only way I can't hit .300 is if there's something physically wrong with me.
He (Bill Terry) once hit a ball between my legs so hard that my center-fielder caught it on the fly backing up against the wall.
Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser.
He (Sandy Koufax) throws a 'radio ball,' a pitch you hear, but you don't see.
A pitcher is only as good as his legs.
There's a large oak tree in the Newton Centre park playground that is legendary because only a few humans have hit it with a baseball from home plate, and B.J. Novak is among them. And I was there that day.
To be an American and unable to play baseball is comparable to being a Polynesian and unable to swim.
I watch all the pitchers I admire. I love watching Cliff Lee. It looks easy for him when he's on the mound; he's almost like an artist. He knows exactly how to get guys out.
Hitting a baseball well, as in cricket, is a very rare skill. One of most difficult things to do in the world to do, hitting a ball coming at you at ninety miles an hour with a round bat. Wonderful to watch.
Hitting's the hardest thing to do in sports.
