You're going to be a great player, kid.

I never want to quit playing ball, They'll have to cut this uniform off me to get me out of it

You gotta be a man to play baseball for a living, but you gotta have a lot of little boy in you, too.

Pop flies, in a sense, are just a diversion for a second baseman. Grounders are his stock trade.

I ought to break this trophy into 32 pieces

I don't like needing anyone for anything.

Are you looking for a Negro who won't fight back?

I'm not goin' anywhere, I'm right here!

It's not easy to be a martyr in the field of race relations.

How you played in yesterday's game is all that counts.

The right of every American to first-class citizenship is the most important issue of our time.

Baseball is like a poker game. Nobody wants to quit when he's losing; nobody wants you to quit when you're ahead.

Above anything else, I hate to lose.

I never cared about acceptance as much as I cared about respect.

I know that I am a black man in a white world. . . I know that I never had it made.

This ain't fun. But you watch me, I'll get it done.

Life is not a spectator sport.

Relationships may change throughout the gift of time, memories stay the same forever in my mind.

I am not concerned with being liked or disliked. I am concerned with being respected