Home Run Inspiration: Motivational Quotes From Baseball Players

Baseball, a bat and ball game, involves two teams alternating between batting and fielding. The game consists of nine innings, and the team with the highest run count at the end emerges victorious.

Unlike many sports, baseball lacks a game clock, although most matches typically conclude by the 9th inning. Originating from the cricket played in 18th-century England, baseball was introduced to North America by immigrants.

Over time, it evolved into its modern form, becoming widely recognized as the United States’ national sport by the late 19th century.

Popular in North and South America, the Caribbean, as well as East Asian countries such as Japan, Taiwan, and South Korea, baseball has captured the hearts of fans around the world.

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Motivational Quotes From Baseball Players

1. “That’s the beautiful thing about baseball. You can be any size and be successful.” – Andrew Benintendi.

2. “A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.” – Jackie Robinson.

3. “You may not think you’re going to make it. You may want to quit. But if you keep your eye on the ball, you can accomplish anything.” – Hank Aaron.

4. “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.” – Bob Feller.

5. “Nobody wanted me. Scouts told me to go to school, to forget baseball. Coaches said, ‘You’re never going to make it.’ I appreciated their honesty because I think when someone tells you something you may not like, you have to use that as fuel for motivation.” – Mike Piazza

6. “Baseball is ninety percent mental. The other half is physical.” – Yogi Berra.

7. “You can’t be afraid to make errors! You can’t be afraid to be naked before the crowd, because no one can ever master the game of baseball, or conquer it.” – Lou Brock.

8. “In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.” – Hank Aaron.

9. “Never allow the circumstances of your life to become an excuse. People will allow you to do it. But I believe we have a personal obligation to make the most of the abilities we have.” – Jim Abbott.

10. “I want people to expect more from me because I expect more. If you don’t set goals high, you’re not trying.” – Todd Helton.

11. “To succeed in baseball, as in life, you must make adjustments.” – Ken Griffey Jr.

12. “In playing ball, and in life, a person occasionally gets the opportunity to do something great. When that time comes, only two things matter: being prepared to seize the moment and having the courage to take your best swing.” – Hank Aaron.

13. “Fans don’t boo nobodies.” ~ Reggie Jackson

14. “I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.” ~ Willie Mays

15. “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of ten and be considered a good performer.” – Ted Williams

16. “It ain’t nothin’ till I call it.” ~ Umpire, Bill Klem

17. “A hot dog at the game beats roast beef at the Ritz.” ~ Humphrey Bogart

18. “Close doesn’t count in baseball. Close only counts in horseshoes and grenades.” ~ Frank Robinson

19. “Baseball, it is said, is only a game. True. And the Grand Canyon is only a hole in Arizona.” ~ George Will

20. “Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.” ~ Leo Ernest Durocher

21. “Whoever wants to know the heart and mind of America had better learn baseball.” ~ Jacques Barzun

22. “There are only two seasons: winter and baseball.” ~ Bill Veeck, Jr.

23. “People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” ~ Rogers Hornsby

24. “There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.” ~ Joe DiMaggio

25. “My motto was always to keep swinging. Whether I was in a slump or feeling badly or having trouble off the field, the only thing to do was keep swinging.” ~ Hank Aaron

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Coach/Manager Baseball Quotes

26. “Every great batter works on the theory that the pitcher is more afraid of him than he is of the pitcher.” ~ Ty Cobb

27. “The ballplayer who loses his head, who can’t keep his cool, is worse than no ballplayer at all.” ~ Lou Gehrig

28. “Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, ‘Sure, every time.'” ~ Mickey Mantle

29. “Enjoying success requires the ability to adapt. Only by being open to change will you have a true opportunity to get the most from your talent.” ~ Nolan Ryan

30. “When you step into the batter’s box, have nothing on your mind except baseball.”— Pete Rose.

31. “People ask me what I do in the winter when there’s no baseball. I’ll tell you what I do. I stare out the window and wait for spring.” – Rogers Hornsby

32. “Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.” – Pete Rose

33. “If my uniform doesn’t get dirty, I haven’t done anything in the baseball game.” – Rickey Henderson

34. “I’d be willing to bet you, if I was a betting man, that I have never bet on baseball.” – Pete Rose

35. “Pitching is the art of instilling fear.” – Sandy Koufax

36.“If you want something enough and work hard to get it, your chances of success are greater.”—Ted Williams.

37. “When you start the game, they don’t say “Work ball!” They say, “Play ball!”” – Willie Stargell.

38. “The game had done much for me, and I had done much for it.” – Jackie Robinson.

39. “If you’re not practicing, somebody else is, somewhere, and he’ll be ready to take your job.” – Brooks Robinson

40. “Well, it took me 17 years to get 3,000 hits in baseball, and I did it in one afternoon on the golf course.” – Hank Aaron

41. “The difference between the impossible and the possible lies in a man’s determination.”— Tommy Lasorda.

42. “There may be people that have more talent than you, but there is no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”— Derek Jeter.

43. “Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.”— Bo Jackson.

44. “A team is where a boy can prove his courage on his own. A gang is where a coward goes to hide.”— Mickey Mantle.

45. “There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.”— Casey Stengel.

46. “Everybody makes mistakes, that’s why they put erasers on pencils.”— Tommy Lasorda.

47. “Baseball is a universal language. Catch the ball, throw the ball, hit the ball.” — Pete Rose.

48. “Baseball gives a growing boy self-poise and self-reliance. Baseball is a man maker.”— Albert Goodwill Spalding.

49. “I see great things in baseball. It’s our game–the American game.” — Walt Whitman.

50. “You could be a kid for as long as you want when you play baseball.”— Cal Ripken Jr.

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Famous Baseball Quotes From Players

51. “Baseball is like driving, it’s the one who gets home safely that counts.” — Tommy Lasorda.

52. “Slumps are like a soft bed. They’re easy to get into and hard to get out of.” — Johnny Bench.

53. “My theory of hitting was just to watch the ball as it came in and hit it. As I realized years later, that is still the finest theory of hitting yet devised.” — Tommy Lasorda.

54. “One of the greatest things about baseball is that you do not need much to play. All you need is a bat and a ball – not even a glove – and a whole lot of imagination.”— David Ortiz.

55. “What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all.”— Willie Mays.

56. “Play this game like the 8-year-old you used to be, dreaming to play in the show. Heart, passion, and fire! Remember where you came from.” – Bryce Harper.

57. “Everybody makes mistakes; that’s why they put erasers on pencils.” – Tommy Lasorda.

58. “Hustle is just playing the game right.” – Jimmy Rollin.

59. “Never give up. Don’t cave.” – Jim “The Rookie” Morris.

60. “Work hard and have patience.” – Randy Johnson.

61. “You either get better, or you get worse. Those are the only two options.” – Max Scherzer.

62. “Don’t ever let the pressure exceed the pleasure.” – Joe Maddon.

63. “Baseball is not a sport you can achieve individually.” – Curt Schilling.

64. “No one has come up with a substitute for hard work.” – Ted Williams.

65. “Baseball is such a tough game. It really humbles you at times; you just have to try not to get too high or too low.” – Chase Utley.

66. “I was told I would never make it because I’m too short. Well, I’m still too short, but I’ve got 10 All-Star games, two World Series championships, and I’m a very happy and contented guy. It doesn’t matter what your height is; it’s what’s in your heart.” – Kirby Puckett.

67. “Never allow the circumstances of your life to become an excuse. People will allow you to do it. But I believe we have a personal obligation to make the most of the abilities we have.” – Jim Abbott.

68. “Love is the most important thing in the world, but baseball is pretty good, too.” – Yogi Berra.

69. “You don’t need to have a perfect ending to be happy.” – Prince Fielder.

70. “Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but how we react to what happens, not by what life brings us but the attitude we bring to life.” – Wade Boggs.

71. “Load up your mind with pictures capturing your preferred tomorrow. Put the remembrances of the past in a place where they won’t block your view.” – Gary Carter.

72. “When you’ve learned to believe in yourself, there’s no telling how good a player you can be. That’s because you have the mental edge.” – Rod Karew.

73. “If you expect greatness, greatness shouldn’t surprise you.” – Justin Verlander.

74. Every strike brings me closer to the next home run.” – Babe Ruth

75. “Never allow the fear of striking out keep you from playing the game.” – Babe Ruth

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Inspirational Baseball Quotes

76. “Baseball is, was, and always will be the best game in the world to me.” – Babe Ruth

77. “There are three types of baseball players: those who make it happen, those who watch it happen, and those who wonder what happened.” – Tommy Lasorda

78. “Bad ballplayers make great managers, not the other way around. All I can do is help them be as good as they are.” – Earl Weaver

79. “A baseball manager is a necessary evil.” – George ‘Sparky’ Anderson

80. “I’ve come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.” – Bob Lemon

81. “The greatest feeling in the world is to win a major league game. The second greatest feeling is to lose a major league game.” – Chuck Tanner

82. “I really love the togetherness in baseball. That’s real true love.” – Billy Martin

83. “Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.” – Leo Ernest Durocher

84. “Never save a pitcher for tomorrow. Tomorrow it may rain.” – Leo Durocher

85. “I’ve found in life the more you practice, the better you get.”— Ted Williams.

86. “I want to be remembered as a ballplayer who gave all he had to give.”— Roberto Clemente.

87. “Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don’t move.”— Satchel Paige.

88. “Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he’s losing; nobody wants you to quit when you’re ahead.”— Jackie Robinson.

88. “I’d walk through hell in a gasoline suit to play baseball.”— Pete Rose.

89. “Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world.”— Bill Veeck.

90. “After Jackie Robinson, the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson.”— Reggie Jackson.

91. “There are two theories on hitting the knuckleball. Unfortunately, neither one of them works.”— Charlie Lau.

92. “Playing baseball is not real life. It’s a fantasy world… It’s a dream come true.”— Dale Murphy.

93. “The only thing I can do is play baseball. I have to play ball. It’s the only thing I know.”— Mickey Mantle.

94. “More than any other American sport, baseball creates the magnetic, addictive illusion that it can almost be understood.”— Thomas Boswell.

95. “The nice guys are all over there, in seventh place.”— Leo Durocher.

96. “Don’t look back. Something might be gaining on you.”— Satchel Paige.

97. “The best pitchers have a short-term memory and a bulletproof confidence.” – Greg Maddux.

98. “To a pitcher, a base hit is the perfect example of negative feedback.” – Steve Hovley.

99. “I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.” – Sandy Koufax.

100. “The pitcher has to find out if the hitter is timid. And if the hitter is timid, he has to remind the hitter he’s timid.” – Don Drysdale.

101. “You know you’re pitching well when the batters look as bad as you do at the plate.” – Duke Snider.

102. “A guy that throws what he intends to throw, that’s the definition of a good pitcher.” – Sandy Koufax.

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103. “The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I’m in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I’ll go for a strikeout. But most of the time, I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout, I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That’s what counts – outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.” – Sandy Koufax.

104. “My pitching philosophy is simple – keep the ball way from the bat.” – Satchel Paige.