Jim Bouton Quotes

• You spend a good deal of your life gripping a baseball, and it turns out it was the other way around all the time.

  Jim Bouton

  Success, Sports, Baseball

  52 Copy quote

• Baseball players are smarter than football players. How often do you see a baseball team penalized for too many men on the field?

  Jim Bouton

  Teamwork, Sports, Baseball

  53 Copy quote

• It never hurts to apologize, especially if you don't mean it.

  Jim Bouton

  Hurt, Mean, Apologizing

  18 Copy quote

• Jim Pagliaroni joined the club tonight and is going to be a welcome addition. He was describing a girl that one of the ballplayers had been out with and said, “It's hard to say exactly what she looked like. She was kind of Joe Torre with tits.” This joke can only be explained with a picture of Joe Torre. But I'm not sure any exist. He dissolves camera lenses.

  Jim Bouton

  Girl, Cameras, Lenses

  11 Copy quote

• For a hundred years, the owners screwed the players. For 25 years, the players have screwed the owners-they've got 75 years to go.

  Jim Bouton

  Player, Years, Hundred

  8 Copy quote

• The older they get, the better they were when they were younger.

  Jim Bouton

  Baseball, Yankees, New York Yankees

  Jim Bouton (1984). “Ball Four Plus Ball”, Scarborough House

  4 Copy quote

• If you had a pill that would guarantee a pitcher 20 wins, but might take five years off his life, he'd take it.

  Jim Bouton

  Baseball, Winning, Years

  Jim Bouton (1970). “Ball four: my life and hard times throwing the knuckleball in the Big Leagues”, Dell Pub Co

  8 Copy quote

• A lot of long relievers are ashamed to tell their parents what they do. The only nice thing about it is that you get to wear a uniform like everbody else.

  Jim Bouton

  Nice, Yankees, Long

  4 Copy quote

• Back then, if you had a sore arm, the only people concerned were you and your wife. Now it's you, your wife, your agent, your investment counselor, your stockbroker, and your publisher.

  Jim Bouton

  Funny, Business, People

  4 Copy quote

• Opening day -- or Opening Day. Depending on how you feel about it.

  Jim Bouton

  How You Feel, Opening Day, Opening

  Jim Bouton (1984). “Ball Four Plus Ball”, Scarborough House

  4 Copy quote

• You're only as smart as your ERA.

  Jim Bouton

  Smart, Eras

  6 Copy quote

• Lots of people look up to Billy Martin. That's because he just knocked them down.

  Jim Bouton

  People, Looks, Look Up

  7 Copy quote

• Statistics are about as interesting as first base coaches.

  Jim Bouton

  Baseball, Interesting, Statistics

  8 Copy quote

• After I won 21 games, I said, "This isn't that hard actually. I can do this every year for maybe 10, 15 years." To tell you the truth I thought I was going to be in the Hall of Fame. I really thought that. You feel so strong, so powerful walking down the street. You know you can throw a ball harder than any man in the world, or certainly the top five. Sandy Koufax knocked all of us out of the box on that one, so we would think, "I'm the second or third hardest thrower in the game."

  Jim Bouton

  Strong, Powerful, Men

  7 Copy quote

• How come nobody wants to argue with me? Is it because I'm always so right?

  Jim Bouton

  Fighting, Competition, Want

  6 Copy quote

• We were like farm animals compared to today's players who are treated like thoroughbreds.

  Jim Bouton

  Animal, Player, Yankees

  7 Copy quote

• Forget goals. Value the process.

  Jim Bouton

  Goal, Fortune Cookie, Forget

  7 Copy quote

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