Quotes - R

"The Gashouse Gang was a group of ferocious gentlemen, willing to embrace the hazards of rational chance." - Branch Rickey (Brooklyn Dodgers general manager), describing the 1934 World Champions St. Louis Cardinals at a 25th anniversary banquet in 1959.

"Luck is the residue of design." - Branch Rickey, general manager

"Man may penetrate the outer reaches of the universe, he may solve the very secret of eternity itself, but for me, the ultimate human experience is to witness the flawless execution of a hit-and-run." - Branch Rickey

"I'm a Major League 3rd Baseman. If you want to go play in parking lot, I'm suppose to stop the ball." - Brooks Robinson, when asked before the first game of the 1970 World Series if he thought he'd have a problem playing on astroturf for the first time.

"I got three pitches. My change, my change off my change, and my change off my change off my change." - Preacher Roe

"Clean living and the spitball" - Preacher Roe, when asked what he attributed to his longevity

"A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives." - Jackie Robinson

"I had to fight hard against loneliness, abuse and the knowledge that any mistake I made would be magnified because I was the only black man out there." - Jackie Robinson

"Different people, different backgrounds, different ideals... We walk in different doors at the beginning of the day, and we walk out of different doors at the end of the day. But when it is time to go out on that field, we all go through the same door." - Scott Rolen, Philadelphia Phillies 3B

"If we lose this game, I'll walk home." - Jim Rooker (Pirates announcer), after the Pirates scored 10 runs in the first few innings.
NOTE: That quotation became famous in Pittsburgh when the Pirates did, indeed, lose the game. Rooker kept his promise in the off-season, taking pledges for charity and then walking from Philly to Pittsburgh over a course of several days. The promoters billed it as "Jim Rooker's unintentional walk.

"The last thing you want to do is go down in the history of All-Star game competition as the only injury sustained during the team picture." - Cal Ripken, whose nose was broken by Chicago White Sox reliever Roberto Hernandez, who momentarily lost his balance stepping down off a riser after the AL team picture was taken.

"The greatest thrill in the world is to end the game with a home run and watch everybody else walk off the field while you're running the bases on air." - Al Rosen

"I don't get upset over things I can't control, because if I can't control them there's no use getting upset. And I don't get upset over the things I can control, because if I can control them there's no use in getting upset." - Mickey Rivers

"He's so ugly. When you walked by him, your pants wrinkle. He made fly balls curve foul." - Mickey Rivers, on teammate Danny Napeleon's looks

"George (Steinbrenner), Billy (Martin) and I -- We're two of a kind." - Mickey Rivers

"My goal is to hit .300, not make an error and stay injury-prone." - Mickey Rivers

"Pitching is 80% of the game and the other half is hitting and fielding." - Mickey Rivers

"If I had my career to play over, one thing I'd do differently is swing more. Those 1,200 walks I got.....nobody remembers them.". - Pee Wee Reese

"When you play this game 20 years, go to bat 10,000 times, and get 3,000 hits, you know what that means? You've gone 0 for 7,000." - Pete Rose (Cincinnati Reds OF/IF)

"When I get the record, all it will make me is the player with the most hits. I'm also the player with the most at bats and the most outs. I never said I was a greater player than Cobb." - Pete Rose

"I'd walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball." - Pete Rose

"I hit an inside-the-park home run! I beat it out! Can you believe that?" - Babe Ruth (Yankees OF), huffing and puffing as he came back to the dugout in Detroit's Navin Field among the cheering and laughter of his teammates when he hit his 27th and only inside-the-park homer of the season on July 8, 1927, the year he hit his record 60 home runs. From the 8/24/98 issue of Sports Illustrated magazine

"All ballplayers should quit when it starts to feel as if all the baselines run uphill." - Babe Ruth

"Chuck Tanner used to have a bedcheck just for me every night. No problem. My bed was always there." - Jim Rooker, former pitcher

"I have no expectation of making a hit every time I come to bat. What I seek is the highest possible batting average, not only for myself, but my team." - Franklin Roosevelt

"I can remember my years with the Mets, just hoping that I'd get four years in so I'd qualify for my pension. That was my goal. Then, after I did that, I thought maybe I could hang on long enough to get ten years in." - Nolan Ryan

"Put the right pitching mechanics together with good health, and there's nothing surprising about lasting a long time." - Nolan Ryan

"I was concerned with my back problems and I said, 'Well, I'll just go seven innings.' Then I got through seven and decided I'm not going to give in to it because I just needed six more outs. This no-hitter comes so late in my career that it makes it very special." - Nolan Ryan, on his sixth no-hitter

"...I've gotten a lot of satisfaction out of what I've accomplished here late in my career." - Nolan Ryan, shortly after his 300th win