The most important part of a player's body is above his shoulders.

Walter Johnson's fastball looked about the size of a watermelon seed and it hissed at you as it passed.

When I played ball, I didn't play for fun.

He batted against spitballs, shineballs, emeryballs and all the other trick deliveries. He never figured anything out or studied anything with the same scientific approach I gave it. He just swung. If he'd ever had any knowledge of batting, his average would have been phenomenal. ... he seemed content to just punch the ball, and I can still see those line drives whistling to the far precincts. Joe Jackson hit the ball harder than any man ever to play baseball.

A ball bat is a wondrous weapon.

Don't come home a failure.

I never could stand losing. Second place didn't interest me. I had a fire in my belly.