1. “God gets you to the plate, but once you’re there, you’re on your own.”
2. “If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.”
3. “Just keep going. Everybody gets better if they keep at it.”
4. “If you get fooled by a pitch with less than two strikes, take it.”
5. “Think. Don’t just swing. Think about the pitcher, what he threw you last time up, his best pitch, who’s up next. Think.”
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6. “All I want out of life is that when I walk down the street, folks will say, ‘There goes the greatest hitter who ever lived.’”
7. “You’ve got to be ready for the fastball.”
8. “The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely.”
9. “All managers are losers, they are the most expendable pieces of furniture on the face of the Earth.”
10. “If there was ever a man born to be a hitter, it was me.”
11. “The only thing dumber than a pitcher is two pitchers.”
12. “Hitting is the most important part of the game. It is where the big money is, where much of the status is, and the fan interest.”
13. “Pour water on a sportswriter—instant horseshit.”
14. “People always told me that my natural ability and good eyesight were the reasons for my success as a hitter. They never talk about the practice, practice, practice.”
15. “The key to hitting is just plain working at it. Work—that’s the real secret.”
16. “I’ve found in life the more you practice, the better you get. If you want something enough and work hard to get it, your chances of success are greater.”
17. “No one has come up with a substitute for hard work.”
18. “Look, kid, don’t ever—ya’ understand me—don’t ever let anyone monkey with your swing.”
19. “Gee, I wish I could play here just one season just to see what I could do.”
20. “You know why that’s my favorite hit? Well, they say that the only other two players who ever hit one over there were Ruth and Gehrig. But now they have to say, ‘Only Ruth, Gehrig, and Williams ever hit one over there.’”
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21. “By the time you know what to do, you’re too old to do it.”
22. “People want to do what they can. Some give us supplies to bring down, some give money or time.”
23. “I think, without question, the hardest single thing to do in sport is to hit a baseball.”
24. “If I’m gonna be a champion, I want to win as a champion. I’m staying in to the end.”
25. “A kid copies what is good.”
26. “All the bullets and all the bombs that explode all over the world won’t leave the impact, when all is said and done, of a dollar bill dropped in the Jimmy Fund pot by a warm heart and a willing hand. You should be proud and happy to know that your contribution will someday help some kid to a better life.”
27. “The most fun I ever had in my life was hittin’ a baseball. And the best sound I ever heard in my life was a ball hit with a bat. Powww!”
28. “Kids get separated from their parents all the time. Had his parents paid attention, this little child would not have wandered off.”
29. “Why do they cheer me for hitting a homer and then boo me for grounding out the next time up. I’m still the same guy, ain’t I? They can all go to hell. I’ll never tip my cap to them.”
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30. “A man has to have goals—for a day, for a lifetime.”
31. “Hitting is 50% above the shoulders.”
32. “Get a good pitch to hit!”
33. “There has always been a saying in baseball that you can’t make a hitter, but I think you can improve a hitter more than you can improve a fielder. More mistakes are made hitting than in any other part of the game.”
34. “There’s only one way to become a hitter. Go up to the plate and get mad. Get mad at yourself and mad at the pitcher.”
35. “No one can ever see the ball hit the bat because it’s physically impossible to focus your eyes that way. However, when I hit the ball especially hard, I could smell the leather start to burn as it struck the wooden bat.”
36. “A .300 hitter—that rarest of breeds these days—goes through life with the certainty that he will fail at his job 7 out of 10 times.”
37. “Baseball gives every American boy a chance to excel—not just to be as good as someone else, but to be better than someone else. This is the nature of man and the name of the game.”
38. “Batting coaches are just as important as pitching coaches.”
39. “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed 3 times out of 10 and be considered a good performer.”
40. “Baseball’s future? Bigger and bigger, better and better! No question about it, it’s the greatest game there is!”
41. “I’d like to break every hitting record in the books.”
42. “The batter has three strike zones: his own, the opposing pitcher’s, and the umpire’s. The umpire’s zone is defined by the rule book, but it’s also more importantly defined by the way the umpire works. A good umpire is consistent so you can learn his strike zone.”
43. “If I was being paid 30,000 dollars a year, the very least I could do was hit .400.”
44. “I’ve found that you don’t need to wear a necktie if you can hit.”
45. “It was always fun for me, I loved baseball so darn much. By the hours I practiced, you’d have to say I was working a lot of hours, but it was pretty near tireless fun for me. I’d rather swing a bat than do anything else in the world.”
46. “Joe DiMaggio was the greatest all-around player I ever saw. His career can not be summed up in numbers and awards. It might sound corny, but he had a profound and lasting impact on the country.”
47. “I knew what was going on at that plate. It used to kill me to strike out, but when I struck out, I knew what it was that got me and what I was going to try to do about it.”
48. “I object to fishing tournaments less for what they do to fish than what they do to fishermen.”
49. “They invented the All-Star game for Willie Mays.”