The base paths belonged to me, the runner. The rules gave me the right. I always went into a bag full speed, feet first. I had sharp spikes on my shoes. If the baseman stood where he had no business to be and got hurt, that was his fault.

Speed is a great asset; but it's greater when it's combined with quickness - and there's a big difference.

Baseball was one-hundred percent of my life.

The crowd makes the ballgame.

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

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've got to be first. ALL the time.