“WHEN I DREAM, I AM AGELESS.”
“It’s sort of weird not to be playing, but I decided to take a year off. I wasn’t getting the feedback that someone was going to give me a chance to make their ballclub, and that’s what I was trying to get.”
–47-year-old former MLB outfielder Rickey Henderson, on doing some instruction this year (San Francisco Chronicle)
“I’m just trying to get that fire burned out of me. When that fire is burned out, then I can know it’s all over. But I still love the game right now, so I’m going to wait it out and see what happens.”
–Henderson
“I can’t say I will retire. My heart’s still in it.”
–Henderson
A PHILLIES HEADER THAT DOES NOT SPELL AN “F” WORD WITH A “PH”
“I came to the Phillies two weeks before Mike Schmidt retired, and everybody on the team had the attitude of Schmidt, which was laid back and cool. It works if you are Mike Schmidt because he is a Hall of Famer, but the others on the team weren’t great players.”
–ESPN analyst and former Phillies first baseman John Kruk (Philadelphia Inquirer)
“Bobby was a great player, but he was laid back, and the others on the Phillies often acted like that. Now the younger kids will see Utley busting his [behind] every play, taking out guys at second, never giving up, and they feel that is how you play the game.”
–Kruk, on now-Yankee outfielder Bobby Abreu leaving the team, and Chase Utley becoming the new leader
“I just think their pitching is too inconsistent. But I firmly believe that they are not far off from being competitive because the National League is terrible.”
–Kruk, on the Phillies’ chances in the NL Wild Card race
“He was in a band. He played trombone. He was an average trombone player. I don’t see him giving this up to play in a jazz band.”
—Chris Howard, Ryan Howard’s older brother, on Ryan’s band days (MLB.com)
“They had a fence at this field, and behind that was a Red Lobster parking lot. Then there’s the Red Lobster. Ryan hit one so far it hit the Red Lobster. Not the parking lot–the building.”
–Howard, on a home run his brother Ryan hit in Little League
“YOU SHOULD LISTEN TO YOUR HEART, AND NOT THE VOICES IN YOUR HEAD LIKE A CERTAIN UNCLE DID ONE GREY DECEMBER MORN.”
“Seeing it on TV, which I never really do, I thought, ‘Hey, man, that was a good catch, Ryan.'”
–Reds utilityman Ryan Freel, on robbing Albert Pujols with a diving catch Tuesday night (Cincinatti Enquirer)
“I’ve got this little midget in my head. I was like, ‘Hey, Farney, I don’t know if that was you who caught that ball. That was pretty good if that was you.'”
–Freel
“He talks to me once in awhile. The guys give me a hard time about this extra man in my head.”
–Freel
“He actually made a comment like, ‘How are the voices in your head?’ We’d play around and finally this year he said, ‘What’s the guy’s name?’ I said, ‘Let’s call him Farney.’ So now everybody’s like, ‘Run, Farney, run’ or ‘Let Farney hit today. You’re not hitting very well.'”
–Freel, on how Farney originated after a conversation with trainer Mark Mann
“It wasn’t so much that it was a good catch. It was just a big part of the game. That would have been no outs and two runs might have scored. … Personally, you can think it was a good catch, but these fans really let you know what kind of catch it was.”
–Freel
WHY WAS I BORN WITH SUCH CONTEMPORARIES?
“You should’ve judged me long before we got to this point. You should’ve been judging me on the last 13-14 years versus these last three or four months. That’s how I look at it. My track record means something.”
–Cubs manager Dusty Baker, on how the Cubs should evaluate him on his whole career, not just the past few months (Chicago Tribune)
“My stance hasn’t changed. When you’re in the situation we’re in, a lot of things go into play when you’re evaluating field personnel. [I will move] forward in early October.”
–Cubs GM Jim Hendry
“I’m not getting fired … my contract just expires.”
–Baker
THESE OZZIE GUILLEN QUOTATIONS WILL NEVER BE IN SYNDICATION
“I’m not going to watch every move he makes. When Uribe is ready to play, he better come to my office and tell me he’s ready to play. We can’t make [a DL] decision, because right now he’s telling people he’ll be ready in a couple days.”
–White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen, on injured shortstop Juan Uribe (Northwest Herald)
“I’m rarely out of the lineup, and I like to play every day. It’s not my fault my back is bothering me.”
—Juan Uribe
“As a shortstop? I don’t know. There’s a lot of good shortstops in the league. Alex is a good hitter. I think Alex right now, he’s doing what he’s supposed to do, playing here and there. Can he play shortstop every day? Well, he’s doing it right now. But there’s 162 games, and I’m not seeing it. I don’t think I can say yes right now.”
–Guillen, when asked if current shortstop Alex Cintron could start for other teams
“Puerto Rico has a lot of bad shortstops … I mean bad. Well, look at it, when Alex Cintron and Alex Cora can play shortstop on your team [as they did for Puerto Rico in the World Baseball Classic], that’s not a good shortstop country. They can borrow one from Venezuela.”
–Guillen
ROCKIE MOUNTAIN LIE
“Someday my kids are going to look at my stats there and say, ‘Dad, you really stunk?’ I have no bitterness. I felt like on paper that this year’s starters were the best they’ve had. The way the game has changed there is great for baseball.”
–former Rockie pitcher Jerry DiPoto, on the introduction of the humidor in Denver (Denver Post)
“Remember, I broke in without the humidor.”
–former Rockie Jamey Wright, when asked why he’s bounced around so much
“That shows how they have adapted over time. Plus, they are running the same guys out there every five days. It seemed like we had a new staff every three weeks.”
–former Rockie Curtis Leskanic
THE REST
“We got the ball. I think we had to give the guy the Metrodome. But he can have it in 2010 (when the Twins are scheduled to move into a new ballpark).”
–Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, on the fate of Justin Morneau’s 30th home run ball(Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel)
“The teller said, ‘Do you want me to deposit this money in your account?’ I said, ‘No, just give it to me in a sack. I want to look at it for awhile.’ I went home and put it on the bed and counted it. I had never seen that much money in my life.”
—Hank Aaron, on cashing his $11,000 World Series check in 1957
“A five-way tie.”
–Dodgers GM Ned Coletti, on how the NL West will finish (New York Times)
“Somehow we keep hanging around because nobody has gotten hot.”
–Rockies pitcher Jason Jennings, on how Colorado’s still in contention (Denver Post)
“That song will get a lot of airplay. People will probably be asking, `Who is Juan Pierre?’ I didn’t even think [Jay-Z] would notice me because I’m not like a superstar who’s always on ‘SportsCenter.'”
–Cubs center fielder Juan Pierre, on having his name in a Jay-Z song (Chicago Tribune)
“I decided not to embarrass myself. I get paid to look like an idiot. I don’t need to do it for free.”
–Mariners manager Mike Hargrove, on declining to play in a Rangers Old Timers game (Seattle Times)
“It’s great to see baseball again. And what better place.”
–ESPN analyst Peter Gammons, while attending his first baseball game in the Cape Cod League after having surgery in June. Welcome back, Peter. (South Florida Sun-Sentinel)
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