“If I’d just tried for them dinky singles I could’ve batted around 600.”

You know this baseball game of ours comes up from the youth – that means the boys. And after you’ve been a boy, and grow up to know how to play ball, then you come to the boys you see representing themselves today in our national pastime.

Heroes get remembered, but legends never die.

If you want to hit home runs, you’ve go to swing a lot.

I swing big, with everything I’ve got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.

A part of control is learning to correct your weaknesses.

They started something here, and the kids are keeping the ball rolling.

Gee, its lonesome in the outfield. It’s hard to keep awake with nothing to do.

What I am, what I have, what I am going to leave behind me – all this I owe to the game of baseball.

I’d play for half my salary if I could hit in this dump (Wrigley Field) all the time.

I didn’t mean to hit the umpire with the dirt, but I did mean to hit that bastard in the stands.

I learned early to drink beer, wine and whiskey. And I think I was about 5 when I first chewed tobacco.

What do I think about when I strike out? I think about hitting home runs.

Read about your case of amnesia. Must be a new brand.

Life is a game like any other; we just don’t take it as seriously.

As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher’s mound. It was as if I’d been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.

You just can’t beat the person who never gives up.

Baseball should be the only thing on an eight year old boy’s mind.

I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.

That’s why I’ve gotten so much experience at my age.

You have three teachers next to you every game, and if I’m not playing, I’m watching baseball.

But I love baseball and I love to play hard.

I love the flow of the game. There’s a certain fluidity to basketball. I don’t enjoy watching baseball or football in the same way.

In my opinion I really haven’t done anything yet. I still have a lot to prove. I just want to prove to myself that I can play at the highest level of baseball in the world every day.

I hope baseball doesn’t get to the point where everyone’s saying, ‘He takes it [steroids]. He takes it. He takes it!’ because not all of us do. I’ve been big my whole life, and I’ll always be big. That’s all natural.