The Week in Quotes: May 14-20

TUESDAYS WITH RICKEY

"I accept it as respect. You’re trying to boo Rickey to get his attention.
You’re paying attention to me. You’re talking to me."

—Rickey Henderson, Padres outfielder, on hearing boos from Mets fans in his
return to New York

"I didn’t know what to expect, but a lot of the fans were saying good things
to me and that made me feel good."

—Bobby J. Jones, Padres pitcher, on returning to Shea the same Tuesday

NO FOLLOW-UP QUESTIONS, PLEASE

"It’s sad for me to see him go. He did more work for our staff than anybody
I’ve been around. But in major league baseball, when you don’t perform
things like this happen."

—Tony Muser, Royals manager, on the firing of pitching coach Brent Strom

"All of a sudden, now it’s Cam Bonifay’s fault that we’re not winning.
That’s the most ridiculous statement in the world. Cam Bonifay doesn’t throw
one baseball, doesn’t attempt to hit one, doesn’t make one hook slide,
doesn’t throw anyone out at the plate. His job is to acquire players, and
he’s done a damn good job of it."

—Lloyd McClendon, Pirates manager, on criticism of GM Cam Bonifay

SMART GUYS

"I never really worried about it. I’m always trying to just worry about
pitching, and run support has nothing to do with pitching. I mean, I’ve
never really worried about it, and hopefully, I never will."

—Greg Maddux, Braves pitcher, on his team’s low scoring during his starts

"People are down on me, the fans, the media, saying it was a bad trade. But
batting average is probably the most overrated statistic in baseball.
Scoring runs and driving in runs to win–that’s the thing."

—Johnny Damon, Athletics outfielder

UH, NOT AS SMART AS THE SMART GUYS

"Being able to throw that many pitches shows my arm is healthy,"

—Livan Hernandez, Giants pitcher, on a 137-pitch outing

"I’ll take that all day long. I’m happy with that. Nine hits in six innings
is a lot of hits, but they were spread out and that was the key."

—Brain Meadows, Royals pitcher

ALL QUOTES GUARANTEED REAL

"His last pitch, his only poor pitch. He forced that pitch. If he had let it
go easily as he had been doing before that, I feel he’d have rolled through
the ninth…. 130 pitches, no problem for a big guy six weeks into the
season."

—Bryan Price, Mariners pitching coach, on a Freddy Garcia
116-pitch start

"We found the spot where you don’t want to pitch to Gonzalez. How we kept
throwing it there, I don’t know."

—Bob Boone, Reds manager, on giving up three home runs to Diamondbacks
outfielder Luis Gonzalez in six at-bats

FEELING FINE

"My first at-bat, four balls in a row. I say, ‘What’s going on? He’s a
strike machine. He’s a strike machine. That’s when I knew it was going to be
a good day for me.’"

—Miguel Tejada, Athletics infielder, after three walks in a game against
the Yankees, two against Mike Mussina

"Shoot, I feel good–and not too many guys hitting .200 feel good about
themselves. I show up every day, play hard and hold my head up."

—Johnny Damon, Athletics outfielder

THE REST

"No more Ichiro questions."

—James Baldwin, White Sox pitcher, to a Japanese reporter

"I wasn’t going to give in. I knew the fans wanted it more than anything
else."

—Robert Person, Phillies pitcher, on striking out J.D. Drew
to end a game in Philadelphia

"[Adam Kennedy]’ll surprise you. If he gets a ball that he can drive, he
certainly showed that he can hit the ball out of the ballpark. I think he’s
more patient this year and you’re seeing him work deeper counts, which will
pay off for him."

—Mike Scioscia, Angels manager, on infielder Adam Kennedy

"I was definitely not drafted as a position player."

—John Burkett, Braves pitcher, after bunting into a double play

"This just came out of right field and smacked us across the face. We don’t
look at the big picture. That’s the only way to do it. Look at the game that
night and take it for what it’s worth. If nothing else, we’re all
professionals and we’re being paid money–some of us a lot of money. There’s
no reason why you can’t go out and work hard for three or four hours a
night."

—Paul Konerko, White Sox infielder, on his team’s slow start

"I used to draw that much for batting practice."

—Reggie Jackson, on being told that the Expos drew 12,000 fans for a
three-game series

If you would like to submit a quote, please

email Derek and be sure to include both the quote itself and a
URL pointing to the quote.