Happy Opening Day
I don't care what Boston and Oakland (and Tokyo) say, nor last night's exciting ending and new D.C. stadium show, today is Opening Day and that's the day I recognize as an official holiday. I've got my button down shirt and sweater on at work ... and my sweat-stained Cubs hat.
I love soccer, too, and college football, don't get me wrong. But Opening Day has always been special (and I felt that way well before I ever started working here). And now, I take the email I send my mom every year (same email, different quotes) and post it here.
Play ball!
When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say, "Play ball."
- Willie Stargell
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
- Dave Barry
Putting lights in Wrigley Field is like putting aluminum siding on the Sistine Chapel.
- Roger Simon
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
- Earl Wilson
That's baseball, and it's my game. Y' know, you take your worries to the game, and you leave 'em there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It's good for your lungs, gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops. Pretty girls, lots of 'em.
- Humphrey Bogart
Every hitter likes fastballs, just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's what it feels like when Nolan Ryan's thrown balls by you.
- Reggie Jackson
Strikeouts are boring - besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. More democratic.
- Crash Davis
Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
- Robert Frost
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.
- A. Bartlett Giamatti
The designated hitter rule is like letting someone else take Wilt Chamberlain's free throws.
- Rick Wise
If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it.
- Dick Allen
Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
- Bill Veeck
Ideally, the umpire should combine the integrity of a Supreme Court judge, the physical agility of an acrobat, the endurance of Job and the imperturbability of Buddha.
- "The Villains in Blue," Time magazine, 25 August 1961
I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.
- Bob Lemon
You can't sit on a lead or run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all.
- Earl Weaver
During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.
- Mickey Mantle
Sandy's fastball was so fast, some batters would start to swing as he was on his way to the mound.
- Jim Murray, on Sandy Koufax
The strongest thing that baseball has going for it today are its yesterdays.
- Lawrence Ritter
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living.
- Alvin Dark
I don't know why people like the home run so much. A home run is over as soon as it starts.... The triple is the most exciting play of the game. A triple is like meeting a woman who excites you, spending the evening talking and getting more excited, then taking her home. It drags on and on. You're never sure how it's going to turn out.
- George Foster
Baseball is a game dominated by ghosts; it's a fraternity, like no other we have of the active and the no longer so, the living and the dead.
- Richard Gilman
There have been only two geniuses in the world. Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare.
- Tallulah Bankhead
More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood.
- Thomas Boswell
[L]ike those special afternoons in summer when you go to Yankee Stadium at two o'clock in the afternoon for an eight o'clock game. It's so big, so empty and so silent that you can almost hear the sounds that aren't there.
- Ray Miller
I believe in the Church of Baseball. I tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance.
- Ron Shelton
I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.
- Sandy Koufax
You know it's summertime at Candlestick when the fog rolls in, the wind kicks up, and you see the center fielder slicing open a caribou to survive the ninth inning.
- Bob Sarlette
The place was always cold, and I got the feeling that the fans would have enjoyed baseball more if it had been played with a hockey puck.
- Andre Dawson, on Montreal
A baseball game is twice as much fun if you're seeing it on the company's time.
- William C. Feather
I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.
- Gerald Early
I love soccer, too, and college football, don't get me wrong. But Opening Day has always been special (and I felt that way well before I ever started working here). And now, I take the email I send my mom every year (same email, different quotes) and post it here.
Play ball!
When they start the game, they don't yell, "Work ball." They say, "Play ball."
- Willie Stargell
If a woman has to choose between catching a fly ball and saving an infant's life, she will choose to save the infant's life without even considering if there are men on base.
- Dave Barry
Putting lights in Wrigley Field is like putting aluminum siding on the Sistine Chapel.
- Roger Simon
A baseball game is simply a nervous breakdown divided into nine innings.
- Earl Wilson
That's baseball, and it's my game. Y' know, you take your worries to the game, and you leave 'em there. You yell like crazy for your guys. It's good for your lungs, gives you a lift, and nobody calls the cops. Pretty girls, lots of 'em.
- Humphrey Bogart
Every hitter likes fastballs, just like everybody likes ice cream. But you don't like it when someone's stuffing it into you by the gallon. That's what it feels like when Nolan Ryan's thrown balls by you.
- Reggie Jackson
Strikeouts are boring - besides that, they're fascist. Throw some ground balls. More democratic.
- Crash Davis
Poets are like baseball pitchers. Both have their moments. The intervals are the tough things.
- Robert Frost
It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in spring, when everything else begins again, and it blossoms in the summer, filling the afternoons and evenings, and then as soon as the chill rains come, it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.
- A. Bartlett Giamatti
The designated hitter rule is like letting someone else take Wilt Chamberlain's free throws.
- Rick Wise
If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it.
- Dick Allen
Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.
- Bill Veeck
Ideally, the umpire should combine the integrity of a Supreme Court judge, the physical agility of an acrobat, the endurance of Job and the imperturbability of Buddha.
- "The Villains in Blue," Time magazine, 25 August 1961
I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.
- Bob Lemon
You can't sit on a lead or run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the goddamn plate and give the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all.
- Earl Weaver
During my 18 years I came to bat almost 10,000 times. I struck out about 1,700 times and walked maybe 1,800 times. You figure a ballplayer will average about 500 at bats a season. That means I played seven years without ever hitting the ball.
- Mickey Mantle
Sandy's fastball was so fast, some batters would start to swing as he was on his way to the mound.
- Jim Murray, on Sandy Koufax
The strongest thing that baseball has going for it today are its yesterdays.
- Lawrence Ritter
Every player should be accorded the privilege of at least one season with the Chicago Cubs. That's baseball as it should be played - in God's own sunshine. And that's really living.
- Alvin Dark
I don't know why people like the home run so much. A home run is over as soon as it starts.... The triple is the most exciting play of the game. A triple is like meeting a woman who excites you, spending the evening talking and getting more excited, then taking her home. It drags on and on. You're never sure how it's going to turn out.
- George Foster
Baseball is a game dominated by ghosts; it's a fraternity, like no other we have of the active and the no longer so, the living and the dead.
- Richard Gilman
There have been only two geniuses in the world. Willie Mays and Willie Shakespeare.
- Tallulah Bankhead
More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood.
- Thomas Boswell
[L]ike those special afternoons in summer when you go to Yankee Stadium at two o'clock in the afternoon for an eight o'clock game. It's so big, so empty and so silent that you can almost hear the sounds that aren't there.
- Ray Miller
I believe in the Church of Baseball. I tried all the major religions and most of the minor ones. I've worshipped Buddha, Allah, Brahma, Vishnu, Siva, trees, mushrooms and Isadora Duncan. I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball. When I learned that, I gave Jesus a chance.
- Ron Shelton
I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.
- Sandy Koufax
You know it's summertime at Candlestick when the fog rolls in, the wind kicks up, and you see the center fielder slicing open a caribou to survive the ninth inning.
- Bob Sarlette
The place was always cold, and I got the feeling that the fans would have enjoyed baseball more if it had been played with a hockey puck.
- Andre Dawson, on Montreal
A baseball game is twice as much fun if you're seeing it on the company's time.
- William C. Feather
I think there are only three things America will be known for 2,000 years from now when they study this civilization: the Constitution, jazz music, and baseball.
- Gerald Early