Branch Rickey

All I had was natural ability.

A full mind is an empty bat.

Thou shalt not steal. I mean defensively. On offense, indeed thou shall steal and thou must.

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.

Leisure is the handmaiden of the devil.

A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.

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.

The greatest untapped reservoir of raw material in the history of our game is the black race.

If things don't come easy, there is no premium on effort. There should be joy in the chase, zest in the pursuit.

How to use your leisure time is the biggest problem of a ballplayer.

Thinking about the devil is worse than seeing the devil.

Never surrender opportunity for security.

Cobb lived off the field as though he wished to live forever. He lived on the field as though it was his last day.

The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.

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.

It is not the honor that you take with you, but the heritage you leave behind.

Problems are the price you pay for progress.

Baseball is a game of inches.

Trade a player a year too early rather than a year too late.

Ethnic prejudice has no place in sports, and baseball must recognize that truth if it is to maintain stature as a national game.