PIAZZA SIGNS WITH METS "I might as well get booed by the best if I was going to get booed by anyone." — Mike Piazza, Mets catcher "I definitely had some growing pains coming here. Once I went through the ups and downs of New York, I definitely wanted to finish my career here." —…
NLCS "When I hit it, I said, ‘Thank you, God, for this one.’ I didn’t have a monkey on my shoulders, but I really needed it, especially for the team to stay alive." — Andres Galarraga, Braves infielder, on his Game 4 grand slam "With Kevin Brown, you have to make him get the ball…
ALL-STAR GAME "It was exciting to face Big Mac, especially when there were runners on base, because you can feel the electricity in the stadium. I was lucky enough to get a couple of pitches by him." — Roger Clemens, Blue Jays pitcher "It’s disappointing when players picked to wear the uniform aren’t deserving over…
DODGER SHAKE-UP, LAST WEEK "I never thought I’d get fired." — Fred Claire, former Dodgers GM "Everybody is numb right now. You just go out there and play. You just go to the park and hope you still have a uniform to wear." — Eric Karros, Dodgers infielder "[Tommy Lasorda is] just killing me and…
THE ALL-STAR GAME "I’ve always said that people get voted into the All-Star Game who probably don’t deserve to be there … and it looks like that’s going to happen to me this year." — Larry Walker, Rockies outfielder "If you ask some ballplayers around the game, they’d love to have those days off instead….
WINNING "It’s no fun losing day in and day out, and that’s what has been happening here. More so than retiring a Red, I want to win a championship." — Barry Larkin, Reds infielder "Why should I be happy here? They screwed me on my contract the last three years. They took a team with…
THE DRAFT "We got the guy we wanted and that doesn’t happen often enough." — Brad Sloan, Padres scouting director "The thing you’ve got to remember is [J.D. Drew] has a very high ceiling. This guy, I think, is arguably the best player in this draft and may have been the best player in the…
BLIBB "I know it was a little unorthodox, but I just felt it was the best chance for us to win a baseball game." — Buck Showalter, Diamondbacks manager "I wanted to get [Barry Bonds] out to end the game, but saner heads prevailed. In the end, it was the right move. It was interesting….
THE TRADE, PART 2 "Mike Piazza is the kind of player, like Willie Mays, like Mickey Mantle, the kind of player that will take to this town. He’s a New York kind of guy." — Fred Wilpon, Mets owner "[Mike Piazza] will instantly give credibility to the lineup and he will instantly give credibility to…
THE TRADE "I want to be perfectly clear and accurate about this. I got a call from [team president] Bob Graziano, and he informed me that the trade had been made." — Fred Claire, Dodgers GM "When you start having discussions about players making that kind of money, general managers can’t make those kinds of…
K IS FOR KERRY "I watched Nolan [Ryan] a lot until the past three or four years, and then I started watching [Roger] Clemens. I like the way they both pitch, their aggressiveness and their style of pitching." — Kerry Wood, Cubs pitcher "I’m gonna give most of the credit to the fans. They were…
HITTING … "Tonight we were making up for the first month. Even when we were up by 10, you still wanted to beat the ball up." — Bobby Higginson, Tigers outfielder "Hitters have got to be hitters first — homers will take care of themselves. I’m a line-drive hitter with home-run pop. I’m not a…
UMPIRES "I think if you’d just call the strike zone from what it is in the rule book that you would see pitching improve." — Nolan Ryan, former player "They can fine me all they want. What they need to do is start watching film on [umpires] and get rid of the guys who aren’t…
CATCHERS "I would have to think that if you put a risk-factor on a position, pitchers would be the highest risk and catchers would be the next highest risk." — Bob Melvin, Rangers GM "I think Peter Gammons said one knee was bone on bone. That’s the most ridiculous statement I’ve ever heard." — Mike…
UPS … "This is going to be a good club, but I don’t know to what extent yet. It will be an exciting year. We’ve got a pretty good ballclub. We’ve still got to see how things go, see how things fall into place." — Tony Gwynn, Padres outfielder "The crowd reaction today was great…
PITCHING "It has to be tough for a kid pitcher these days just to watch ESPN. All they show are guys hitting balls where no one has hit them before. They show them bouncing into fountains and stuff. This is not a good time to be a bad pitcher." — Chuck Finley, Angels pitcher "I…