Dick's Sporting Goods

Jim Bouton, author of Ball Four:
"You spend your entire life gripping a baseball, when it was always the other way  around." 

Favorites from Bob Uecker:

"I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture."

I led the league in "Go get 'em next time."

"In 1962, I was named Minor League Player of the Year.  It was my second season in the bigs."

"I set records that will never be equaled. In fact, I hope 90% of them don't even get printed."

I signed with the Milwaukee Braves for three-thousand dollars. That bothered my dad at the time because he didn't have that kind of dough. But he eventually scraped it up." 

"Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products."

"The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud."

"The highlight of my career? In '67 with St. Louis, I walked with the bases loaded to drive in the winning run in an intersquad game in spring training."

"Let's face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can't resist."

"The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up."

"They said I was such a great prospect that they were sending me to a winter league to sharpen up. When I stepped off the plane, I was in Greenland."

"When I came up to bat with three men on and two outs in the ninth, I looked in the other team's dugout and they were already in street clothes."

"When I looked to the third base coach for a sign, he turned his back on me."

"If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way I always had something to talk about during the winter."

Other stuff that just works...

Every strike brings me closer to the next home run. (Babe Ruth)

"How people play the game shows something of their character.  How they lose shows all of their true character. "  (Author unknown)

Teamwork begins when it doesn't matter who gets the recognition. (Unknown)

Attitudes are contagious... make yours worth catching! (Author unknown)

"Who's my favorite player?  All of you guys!" (Jonny Gomes at PALL on Jonny Gomes Day)

Some succeed because they are destined. Some succeed because they are determined. (Unknown)

Whether you think you can or you think you can't...either way, you are right! (Henry Ford)

"Don't take life too seriously, or you'll never get out of it alive." (Author unknown)

Catch on fire with enthusiasm and people will come for miles to watch you burn. (John Wesley)

"True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful."  (Author unknown)

Bite off more than you can chew, then chew it. (Ella Williams)

We cannot direct the wind but we can adjust the sails.  (Author Unknown)

Always keep your composure. You can't score from the penalty box; and to win, you have to score.  (Bobby Hull)

If you can dream it, you can do it. (Unknown)

The difference between ordinary and extraordinary is that little extra.--Unknown

Destiny is a matter of choice, not a matter of chance.--Unknown

Those who try to do something and fail are infinitely better than those who try to do nothing and succeed.--Lloyd Jones

Losers visualize the penalties of failure. Winners visualize the rewards of success.--Unknown

No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.--Eleanor Roosevelt

Kites rise highest against the wind, not with it. - Winston Churchill

Goals are dreams with deadlines...!!! (Author unknown)

You are only defeated, if you give up one more time than you get up.(Author unknown)

If not now, when? (Author unknown)

GO FOR IT!  Life is not a dress rehearsal. (Author unknown)

Some days you're the bug. Some days you're the windshield. (Price Cobb, race car driver)

They may forget what you said, but they will never forget how you made them feel. (Carl W. Buechner)

There's Nothing in the Middle of the Road but Yellow Stripes and Dead Armadillos (Jim Hightower)

Success is a do-it-yourself project.--Unknown

Do not let what you cannot do interfere with what you can do.--John Wooden

There are no elevators to success, you have to take the stairs (Author unknown)

A diamond is a piece of coal that stuck to the job (Author unknown)

Do or do not ~  There is no try. ~ Yoda

Average is as close to the bottom as it is to the top. (Author unknown)

The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is the way a person uses them. (Author unknown)

The way to SUCCEED is to double your FAILURE rate.  (T.J.Watson, Sr.)

Don't find fault, find a remedy. (Henry Ford)

Learn from the mistakes of others...you can't live long enough to make them all yourself. (Author unknown)

A failure is like fertilizer -- it stinks to be sure, but it makes things grow faster in the future. (Dennis Waitley)

Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted. (Author unknown)

Persistence is what makes the impossible possible, the possible likely, and the likely definite. (Author unknown)

There is no one luckier than he who thinks himself so.  (German proverb)

Before anything else, getting ready is the secret of success.  (Henry Ford)

The greatest mistake a person can make is to be afraid of making one.  (Elbert Hubbard)

"All things are difficult before they are easy." (Author unknown)