I've got to be first. ALL the time.

He (Shoeless Joe Jackson) was the finest natural hitter in the history of the game.

I'm coming down on the next pitch, Krauthead.

When I played ball, I didn't play for fun. . . . It's no pink tea, and mollycoddles had better stay out. It's a contest and everything that implies, a struggle for supremacy, a survival of the fittest.

I had to fight all my life to survive. They were all against me, but I beat the bastards and left them in the ditch.

The longer I live, the longer I realize that batting is more a mental matter than it is physical. The ability to grasp the bat, swing at the proper time, take a proper stance; all these are elemental. Batting is rather a study in psychology, a sizing up of a pitcher and catcher and observing little details that are of immense importance. It's like the study of crime, the work of a detective as he picks up clues.

The crowd makes the ballgame.