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Nobody does anything better than me in baseball (said before the 1971 World Series).
When I was a little kid, I wanted to be a baseball player. This is something I think about. The more I think about it, I'm convinced that God wanted me to play baseball.
I would be lost without baseball. I don't think I could stand being away from it as long as I was alive.
If I would be happy, I would be a very bad ball player. With me, when I get mad, it puts energy in my body.
A country without idols is nothing.
When I put on my uniform, I feel I am the proudest man on earth.
There's no difference between me and you. You need something, a glove, a place to live, you let me know.
Why does everyone talk about the past? All that counts is tomorrow's game.
A nation without heroes is nothing.
In a way, I was born twice. I was born in 1934 and again in 1955 when I came to Pittsburgh. I am thankful to say that I lived two lives.
I wasn't ready for the majors when I joined the Pirates in 1955. I was too young and didn't know my way around.
The Dodgers told me a big bonus was no good, and they said other players would resent it. Better for me to take a small amount of money and work my way.
I used to watch Monte Irvin play when I was a kid. I idolized him. I used to wait in front of the ballpark just for him to pass by so I could see him.
I would like to get 3,000 hits.
After I failed to win the Most Valuable Player Award in 1960, I made up my mind I'd win the batting title in 1961 for the first time.
I am more valuable to my team hitting .330 then swinging for home runs.
I loved the game so much that even though our playing field was muddy and we had many trees on it, I used to play many hours every day.
Baseball has been very good to me.
But some people act like they think I live in the jungle someplace.
I was born to play baseball.
Look at my skin - I am not of the white people.
They said you'd really have to be something to be like Babe Ruth. But Babe Ruth was an American player. What we needed was a Puerto Rican player they could say that about, someone to look up to and try to equal.
It's not a bad ball if I can hit it.
Pitch me outside, I will hit .400. Pitch me inside, and you will not find the ball.
Brooklyn was a famous team. I wanted to play for the Dodgers.
My mother has the same kind of an arm, even today at 74. She could throw a ball from second base to home plate with something on it. I got my arm from my mother.
I am convinced that God wanted me to be a baseball player.
I couldn't ask for better teammates, and the Pirate fans are the greatest in baseball.
To the people here, we are outsiders. Foreigners.
The farther away you writers stay, the better I like it. You know why? Because you're trying to create a bad image of me... you do it because I'm black and Puerto Rican, but I'm proud to be Puerto Rican.
I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all I had to give.
My father used to say, 'I want you to be a good man; I want you to learn how to work. And I want you to be a serious person.' I grew up with that in my mind.
The first day that I get to Fort Myers, there was a newspaper down there. The newspaper said, 'Puerto Rican hot dog arrives in town.'
If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.
I am from the poor people; I represent the poor people. I like workers. I like people that suffer because these people have a different approach to life from the people that have everything and don't know what suffering is.
