HOUSTON, WE HAVE A… [THUMP]
“I just didn’t get the feeling he was going to come back…. Obviously, money changes a lot of things. But I just didn’t think he wanted to come back. I thought New York was always his destination. But I didn’t think it was the Mets.”
—Jeff Bagwell, Astros first baseman, on former teammate Carlos Beltran (MLB.com)
“He’s a kid that could be, with Lance [Berkman] and Roy [Oswalt], could be the poster child for this organization. As someone who’s played his entire career with this organization, I wanted it to happen for the team. Not just for next year or the year after, but for many years after I’m done.”
–Bagwell
“Right now, with losing Jeff Kent and Beltran, you think, ‘Oh my God, we need offense,’…I know Lance is going to be back and he’ll be fine, but if you look at it now, we have nothing. That’s where the big problem is.”
–Bagwell
“We’re disappointed, but we also realize that owner Drayton McLane did everything that could possibly have been done.”
—Tim Purpura, Astros general manager, on losing Beltran to the Mets (MLB.com)
SOAPBOX
“I patterned my game after Pete [Rose]…. When you look at what he accomplished-he’s the hit king. Without him, there’s a void in the Hall of Fame. He needs to be there.”
—Wade Boggs, Hall of Fame third baseman after being inducted (Arizona Sun)
“It’s a matter of time before baseball excuses [Rose], and he gets in with 4,000-plus hits.”
—Ryne Sandberg, Hall of Fame second baseman, after being inducted (Arizona Sun)
“Jim Rice-in my opinion, there was not a more feared hitter in baseball. When he walked to the plate and stared at the pitcher, you knew he was going to hit the ball hard and drive in important runs for us.”
–Boggs, on former teammate Jim Rice
“Dawson was in the same category as Rice…. Four hundred home runs, gold gloves, the ultimate professional and a class act.”
–Sandberg, on former teammate Andre Dawson
“Facing him…he had the greatest curveball of all time. You look at statistics-3,000 hits, 300 wins, 500 home runs…When you fall a little short, it takes a little longer. Eventually, they get in.”
–Boggs, on should-be Hall of Famer Bert Blyleven
“BIG ‘SYRINGES’ IN YOUR @$$ IS BAD FOR YOUR HEALTH”
“We have been in very intense negotiations…I’m very confident in saying to you today we will have a very, very constructive, tough steroid policy very soon.”
—Bud Selig, MLB commissioner (Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
“Look, I have said all along I want a policy similar to the one I put in the minor leagues in 2001…. I have spent an enormous amount of time with team doctors and physicians. Every one of them, all 30. And I feel very comfortable in telling you that I really feel good about where we are.”
–Selig
“It’s the best steroid policy in sports…There’s no question about it. Immediate penalties. Random testing year-round. It’s got everything in there.”
–Selig, on his minor-league drug test policy
“I think in the very near future-and I want to underscore the near-you’ll understand that on [the issue of] steroids, that while I wish we could have done it quicker, it’ll be a very tough policy and a remarkable end in a way that people didn’t think we could ever get done.”
–Selig
“You can talk about the steroid controversy, and nobody is more sensitive about it than I am…. It’s a health hazard. It’s an integrity issue. It’s everything that one should be concerned about. So don’t misunderstand the comment I am about to make.”
–Selig
“I feel good about where we are…We are going to deal with the steroid problem. I’m not so sure it’s as pervasive as everybody would tell you that it is.”
–Selig
“We have testing in our labor agreement, the first time we have ever had testing. People say it’s weak. I’ve got news for you-and this I agree with the players’ association-it’s worked well. But it isn’t tough enough. It isn’t comprehensive enough. It doesn’t deal with the kinds of things I want to deal with.”
–Selig
“I don’t want some day, when I’m done being commissioner, somebody’s widow or a brother or a sister or a child says to me, ‘Commissioner, you people knew how bad this was and you didn’t do anything about it’…. Because that’s one thing I really couldn’t live with.”
–Selig
THE REST
“If you take away any of my time spent with any of the three teams in my career, I’m likely not considered a Hall of Famer…. It’s a decision they made and I’m fine with it. If the Hall of Fame had picked my Little League cap, I would have been happy with that.”
–Boggs, on having the Red Sox selected as his team of induction (MLB.com)
“Our view of this is that we effectively traded Randy Johnson for Vazquez, Halsey, Shawn Green and $19 million.”
—Ken Kendrick, Diamondbacks general partner, after finally acquiring Shawn Green from the Dodgers (Arizona Republic)
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