Feb 26, 2009

Not Today


Since yesterday was the first day of exhibition baseball, a few quotes fer ya...

Don't tell me about the world. Not today. It's springtime and they're knocking baseball around fields where the grass is damp and green in the morning and the kids are trying to hit the curve ball. - Pete Hamill

People ask me what I do in winter when there's no baseball. I'll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring - Rogers Hornsby

It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the 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

What are we at the park for except to win? I'd trip my mother. I'd help her up, brusher her off, tell her I'm sorry. But mother don't make it to third. - Leo Durocher

England and America should scrap cricket and baseball and come up with a new game that they both can play. Like baseball, for example. - Robert Benchley

There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither of them work. - Charlie Lau

Ninety feet between home plate and first base may be the closest man has ever come to perfection. - Red Smith

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. - Annie Savoy via Ron Shelton

The other sports are just sports. Baseball is a love. - Bryant Gumbel

That's the true harbinger of spring, not crocuses or swallows returning to Capistrano, but the sound of a bat on a ball. - Bill Veeck

The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he's timid. - Don Drysdale

I don't want to play golf. When I hit a ball, I want someone else to go chase it. - Rogers Hornsby


And finally...

I see great things in baseball. It's our game - the American game. It will take our people out-of-doors, fill them with oxygen, give them a larger physical stoicism. Tend to relieve us from being a nervous, dyspeptic set. Repair these losses, and be a blessing to us. - Walt Whitman

PS - A couple of new beers reviewed over at my beer blog. Check it out, y'all. - Earl
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Note: Remember to play the Bug-Eyed Trivia Challenge every day. Ernie Banks would want you to place twice...if you could.

18 comments:

Kevin McKeever said...

was very disappointed neither local team's first game was on TV. Settled for the MLB Network's re-broadcast of June 28, 1976, Mark 'The Bird' Fidrych vs. The Yanks -- an old ABC Monday Night Baseball game I remember seeing as a kid.

And my boy, Rusty Staub, still hit a two-run homer.

Funny, I didn't remember Warner Wolf doing some of those games.

Barlinnie said...

How many UK channels are there that cover baseball for us wannabe fans?

Not-a-one.

Disgraceful.

Verdant Earl said...

Uncool - yeah, I don't know why they did that. But I noticed that none of the teams in MLB televised yesterday's games. Maybe something to do with first game jitters and all. I love the MLB network. Keeps me going in difficult times.

Jimmy - and yet we have a bunch of satellite channels here that televise soccer, rugby and cricket. Hell, Rugby 7's (Eng vs Arg) was on ABC this past weekend. Never saw that before!

Michelle said...

Great quotes!!! I love the last one too!!!

Happy Thursday!!!

Candy's daily Dandy said...

"What are we at the park for except to win? I'd trip my mother. I'd help her up, brusher her off, tell her I'm sorry. But mother don't make it to third. - Leo Durocher"

Perfect. That is just darn perfect!:)

Slyde said...

i hate baseball and baseball movies, but i love "The Natural"...

why is that?

Heff said...

Bryant Gumbel ??

i am the diva said...

i like the one about baseball vs golf... not that i play either...

Faiqa said...

Baseball was invented by the Egyptians. Then, marketed to the US shortly after the Civil War with the intent of establishing a national pastime. It didn't catch on in the South for a long time.

That's all I got.

Ookami Snow said...

I feel the same way about football.

Here's hoping that the Royals can make it* at least until the All-Star Break.

*By make it I mean not mathematically eliminated from the playoffs by then.

Verdant Earl said...

Michelle - it does have a certain, um...poetry about it. Doesn't it?

Candy - Leo Durocher was one of a kind.

Slyde - because you secretly love baseball and you are afraid to admit it.

Heff - I know!

Diva - my favorite quote on there is the other one by Hornsby. The one about what he does in the winter. Love it.

Faiqa - LIAR! ;)

Ookami - The AL Central is going to be uber-competitive this year. And by that I mean that all the teams should be equally mediocre. The Royals could surprise some teams. Is Mark Teahan really going to try to play 2B?

Anonymous said...

I think you forgot one....

"You're Fuckin' Out! -Kenny Powers"

Verdant Earl said...

WLC - I knew I forgot one. The second episode was another great one. Kenny on X was hilarious.

Mrs. Hall said...

i absolutely loved each and every quote.

especially the last one





seriously, if people would just file into a stadium, breathe the open air, hoot and holler once in a while, well, I would have a 50% drop in business.

Brown said...

Dude! My dad and I will ever be connected by baseball. Seeing the picture from the Natural got me all misty eyed and shit.

Oh, one of my favorites, "There's no crying in baseball!"

Verdant Earl said...

Holly - baseball is the best sport for quotes.

Poopie - A League of Their Own does have one of my favorite quotes - "It's supposed to be hard. If it wasn't hard, everyone would do it. The hard... is what makes it great."

Mrs. Hall said...

DAMN EARL!!

you are so right about the best quotes being from baseball!!!


so good, so true :)

Thanks for sharing them :)

Verdant Earl said...

Holly - I dare anyone to come up with a comprehensive list of great hockey quotes. ;)