Every great batter works on the theory that the pitcher is more afraid of him than he is of the pitcher.

Just speed, raw speed, blinding speed, too much speed.

The first time I faced him I watched him take that easy windup and then something went past me that made me flinch. The thing just hissed with danger. We couldn't touch him... Every one of us knew we'd met the most powerful arm ever turned loose in a ball park.

The best recommendation for an umpire in the old days was: "He licked somebody in the Three-I League. He ought to do.

When I began playing the game, baseball was about as gentlemanly as a kick in the crotch.

The great American game should be an unrelenting war of nerves.

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