At the beginning of the World Series of 1947, I experienced a completely new emotion when the National Anthem was played. This time, I thought, it is being played for me, as much as for anyone else.

I know that I am a black man in a white world. . . I know that I never had it made.

Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead.

I'm not concerned with your liking or disliking me... All I ask is that you respect me as a human being.

The way I figured it, I was even with baseball and baseball with me. The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

Baseball, like some other sports, poses as a sacred institution dedicated to the public good, but it is actually a big, selfish business with a ruthlessness that many big businesses would never think of displaying.