Quotes - G

"There are three things in my life which I really love. God, my family and baseball. The only problem - once baseball season starts, I change the order around a bit." - Al Gallagher, SF Giants

"When I'm at bat, I'm in scoring position." - Oscar Gamble, when asked about hitting with runners in scoring position

"Never trust a baserunner who's limping. Comes a base hit and you'll think he just got back from Lourdes." - Joe Garagiola, St. Louis Cardinals

"Baseball gives you every chance to be great. Then it puts every pressure on you to prove that you haven't got what it takes. It never takes away that chance and it never eases up on the pressure." - Joe Garagiola

"When I covered the Yankees in the '60s, they had players like Horace Clarke, Ross Moschitto, Jake Gibbs and Dooley Womack. It was like the first-team missed the bus." - Joe Garagiola, broadcaster

On his own scouting report: "Very deceptive. Slower than he looks." - Joe Garagiola

"I heard Billy Buckner tried to commit suicide over the winter. He stepped in front of his car, but it went through his legs." - Billy Gardner, KC Royals

"I would have jumped off a tall building. But the way I'm batting, I wouldn't have hit the ground." - Phil Garner

"The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back." - Steve Garvey

"The Babe is one fellow, and I'm another and I could never be exactly like him. I don't try, I just go on as I am in my own right." - Lou Gehrig (NY Yankees 1B)

"I worked real hard to learn to play first. In the beginning, I used to make one terrible play a game. Then, I got so I'd make one a week, and finally, I'd pull a real bad one maybe once a month. At the end, I was trying to keep it down to one a season." - Lou Gehrig, New York Yankees 1B

"There is no room in baseball for discrimination. It is our national pastime and a game for all." - Lou Gehrig

"We were mighty short of infielders in those days." - Lou Gehrig

"Baseball breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone." - A. Bartlett Giamatti, ex-commisioner, in The Green Fields of the Mind

"A homer a day will boost my pay." - Josh Gibson

"I'm not out here to win a beauty contest." - Kirk Gibson

"You can play for the three-run homer there a lot. Like every inning." - Former Rockies and current Yankees catcher Joe Girardi, on playing at Coors Field

"There don't seem to be any quote-unquote pitcher's ballparks in the American League. At least in the National League you can catch a break in St. Louis, Houston, Montreal. In the AL, it's like every park is Coors Field." - Braves left-hander Tom Glavine, on why he thinks there are more home runs hit in the American League

"People come to see the players. Nobody ever bought a ticket to see a manager." - Larry Goetz, umpire, on why managers should be thrown out before players

"Roomie, you keep playing Greenberg shallow and you're going to make them forget Lefty Gomez." - Lefty Gomez, after giving up a triple to centre, responding to rookie OF Joe DiMaggio's comment that he was going to make people forget Tris Speaker. DiMaggio had been playing a shallow outfield.

"I've got a new invention. It's a revolving bowl for tired goldfish." - Lefty Gomez

"I talked to the ball a lot of times in my career. I yelled, 'Go foul. Go foul.'" - Lefty Gomez

"I was the worst hitter ever. I never even broke a bat until last year when I was backing out of the garage." - Lefty Gomez

"A lot of things run through your head when you're going in to relieve in a tight spot. One of them was, 'Should I spike myself ?'" - Lefty Gomez

"The secret of my success was clean living and a fast outfield." - Lefty Gomez

"I am throwing twice as hard as I ever did. It's just not getting there as fast." - Lefty Gomez, on aging

"I was never nervous when I had the ball, but when I let go I was scared to death." - Lefty Gomez

"He's in a rut. Gehringer goes two for five on opening day and stays that way all season." - Lefty Gomez, on Charlie Gehringer

"One rule I had was make your best pitch and back up third base. That relay might get away and you've got another shot at him." - Lefty Gomez

"I'd rather be lucky than good." - Lefty Gomez, pitcher

"I don't want to throw him nothing. Maybe he'll just get tired of waiting and leave." - Lefty Gomez, answering Bill Dickey's question: What do you want to throw to Jimmy Foxx.

"Do they still play the blues in Chicago,
When baseball season rolls around?
When the snow melts away, do the Cubbies still play
In their ivy-covered burial ground?
When I was a boy, they were my pride and joy,
But now they only bring fatigue
To the land of the brave, the home of the free
And the doormat of the National League." - Steve Goodman, A Dying Cub Fan's Last Request

"Jose Canseco leads off the 3rd inning with a grand slam." - John Gordon, Twins announcer

"Isn't that cute? He kisses her on the strikes, and she kisses him on the balls." - Curt Gowdy, on a couple in the stands

"This team makes your ulcers have a baby." - Mark Grace (Chicago Cubs 1B), after a 10th inning victory during a race for a playoff spot late in the 1998 season.

"The music sounds better, the wine tastes sweeter and the girls look better when we win." - Mark Grace, after the Chicago Cubs ended a six-game losing streak

"When you're playing, awards don't seem like much. Then you get older and all of it becomes more precious. It is nice to be remembered." - Hank Greenberg (Tigers' 1B)

"The only way you can get along with newspaperman is to say something one minute and something different the next." - Hank Greenberg (Tigers' 1B)

"How many games was it before they told you about the mask?" - Hank Greenwald, sportscaster, to one-time catcher, Ken Dito

"Hello, everybody, and welcome to Three Rivers Stadium, where tonight...Hello, everybody, and welcome to Two Rivers Stadium." - Hank Greenwald, taping a pregame intro was told that it had run a little long and that he should eliminate something, so he tried again.

"Bats right, throws up." - Hank Greenwald, speaking of the newborn son of agent Jeff Moorad and wife, Jan

"Three more saves and he ties John the Baptist." - Hank Greenwald, on Bruce Sutter

"He's hitting .450. Of course, everybody is hitting .450." - Braves center fielder Marquis Grissom on his son D'Monte, who is playing T-ball at the age of 4

"Hey, let's just get into the goddamned game." - Dwight 'Doc' Gooden (New York Mets pitcher), to Joe Brinkman right before Brinkman tosses him from Game 2 of the 1998 Red Sox-Indians wild-card series in the first inning.

"I'm glad I don't have to face that guy every day. He has that look that few hitters have. I don't know if it is in his stance, his eyes or what. But you can tell he means business." - Dwight "Doc" Gooden, on Don Mattingly - faced in a spring training game 1989

"The bigger the guy, the less he argues. You never heard a word out of Stan Musial or Willie Mays or Roberto Clemente. They never tried to make you look bad." - Tom Gorman, umpire

"Billy could never say anything that smart." - Calvin Griffith (Minnesota Twins owner), on a comment that Billy Martin had denied making about Reggie Jackson and George Steinbrenner: "One's a born liar, and the other's been convicted."

"First I pray to God that nobody hits the ball to me. Then I pray to God that no one hits the ball to Steve Sax." - Pedro Guerrero

"I said it all year. All roads go through Atlanta." - Tony Gwynn (San Diego Padres OF), 1998 Playoffs

"I've got to check the history books to find a pitch that was slower than that." - Tony Gwynn, on the ultra loop in Bobby Jones' curveball