All I had was natural ability.
— Branch Rickey
The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.
Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late.
The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.
Never surrender opportunity for security.
I find fault with my children because I like them and I want them to go places - uprightness and strength and courage and civil respect and anything that affects the probabilities of failure on the part of those that are closest to me, that concerns me - I find fault.
Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.
A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.
A full mind is an empty bat.
If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.
Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.
Problems are the price you pay for progress.
Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil.
I don't care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I'd want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I'd want to be the best at whatever I do.
Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day.
Luck is the residue of design.
Baseball is a game of inches.
Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil.
Only in baseball can a team player be a pure individualist first and a team player second, within the rules and spirit of the game.
It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.
How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer.
Baseball people, and that includes myself, are slow to change and accept new ideas. I remember that it took years to persuade them to put numbers on uniforms.
