Mickey Mantle

"It was a Sunday doubleheader in Cleveland. Mickey's on third base, and they hit a ball to medium right field to me. I would get back on a ball like that, and then I'd come in and take it on the run and I really put everything I had behind it. I caught the ball on the run and Mickey faked me. I see him tagging up, and I wasn't taking any chances. The way he ran you couldn't afford to. So I reach back and let it go as hard as I could. It was like a line drive, but it was a little too high. It took off. jumped for the ball, but it just carried right over his glove. Mickey saw that and ran home. The ball hit the brick wall - they didn't have cushions around the walls in those days - and bounced - can you believe this - right back to Russ at home plate. Mickey was out at home. Mickey was so embarrassed, but it wasn't his fault. I had to laugh."

"That's the hardest I've ever seen anyone hit a ball. . Ruth, anybody. I don't believe a man can hit a ball harder."

"The kid was great. He was the difference. The Yankees certainly didn't miss Joe DiMaggio out there in center field today—and won't as long as that guy's around."

"He ought to have a league of his own. He's too much for everybody else."

"That horse had better win. I saw George get on the plane with an automatic."

"Later on they tend to get longer than they really were."

"No one hit the ball harder than Frank Howard. He was the strongest I ever saw. I saw him hit a line drive off Whitey Ford at the stadium that Whitey actually jumped for, it was hit that low. It ended up hitting the speakers behind the monuments in dead center. I told Whitey later that it was lucky he didn't catch it because it would have drug him to death.""

"I'd never show up a pitcher by standing in the batters box and watching how far the ball goes like a lot of players do now. But it made me feel good to know I could hit a ball longer than anyone else. It tickled the hell out of me. It was like playing in a golf tournament and hearing all the ohhs and ahhs when you hit a good drive. I mean, every time I swung at it I was trying to hit it longer than the time before. I'm sure that was why I struck out so much, but I'd get a kick out of it. Poor Casey would get so mad. He'd say, "Hey butcher boy, just make contact." But he couldn't get me to change. In fact, Whitey told me just last year that I'd shut my eyes just before I lunged."

"I feel better than I have in years—no leg problems at all. But if I'm to get three more home runs, I'm afraid I'll have to get them right-handed. I don't know what's the matter. I've lost my confidence from that side. I've always been a better right-handed hitter than left, but it wasn't until recently that I really got into a left-handed slump. I just don't seem able to pull the trigger, hitting left-handed. I have no excuse for it. It's not my legs or anything. The ball just gets up to me before I know it."

"That would be Sandy Koufax, even though he was in the National League and I didn't have to face him very much. Among American League lefties I'd have to pick Herb Score before he got hurt. From the right side, no question: Dick Radatz of the Red Sox. I once read in a Dallas newspaper that he struck me out 45 times. If he wasn't the toughest, I don't want to remember who was."

"The most underrated guy is the one who will do absolutely anything to win a game. The two who come to mind immediately are Billy Martin and Pete Rose."

"He who has the fastest golf cart never has a bad lie."

"If we were choosing sides and every player was in the pool, my first pick would be Whitey Ford and my second would be Ted Williams. Beyond that there would be just too many and I'd be afraid of leaving somebody out. Besides, with Whitey on the mound and Williams in the lineup, we'd still beat just about anybody."

"When you reach the major leagues, it's unbelievable how much you don't know about the game you've been playing all your life."

"He was like a father to me, and I mean that. My dad died after I had been with the Yankees a year and I guess Casey felt it was up to him to bring me up right. He kept me when I wasn't ready for the big leagues. He had confidence in me. He taught me to think, to play hard from the first pitch to the last."

"I figured that once I got past 40, that was all behind me. If I knew that I was going to live this long, I'd have taken better care of myself."