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| What Did He Have To Say? |
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Brooks and Mark signing at '71 WS
The Walsh Bird - Right after designer Stan Walsh — creator of such unforgettable icons as the Hamm’s Bear and Snap, Crackle and Pop — got the bird all dressed up, the Orioles gave him someplace to go. The 1966 World Series.
Click on logo to hear Brooks' most memorable event in his career, right from Brooks!
Brooks once said,...
“It’s a pretty sure thing that a players bat is what speaks loudest when it’s contract time, but there are moments when the glove has the last word.”
"I never had five games in a row like I had in that particular World Series."
"Fifty years from now I'll be just three inches of type in a record book."
"I'm a guy who just wanted to see his name in the lineup everyday. To me, baseball was a passion to the point of obsession."
"I'm a Major League third baseman. If you want to go play in the parking lot, I'm suppose to stop the ball."
(Reply given before Game 1 of the 1970 World Series in regards to if he thought he would have a problem playing on astro turf for the first time).
"I've always said when I broke in I was an average player. I had an average arm, average speed and definitely an average bat. I am still average in all of those." (On coming into the game in 1955.)
“I got married on October 8, 1960 and was driving to Lake Tahoe on my honeymoon when the Pirates and the Yankees played their final game in the World Series. I am in the mountains of Colorado and when I’m down in a valley I cannot hear the game, as the radio fades. When I’m on top of the mountain I get the game. So I stop on top of one of the mountains to hear the final inning when Mazeroski hit his famous homerun. What I remember is my wife of a few days sitting there shaking her head saying, “I can’t believe this! You sitting here on top of a mountain listening to a game when we are on our honeymoon.” At that point she realized she was married to baseball, too.”
(Taken from “What Baseball Means To Me”, A Celebration of Our National Pastime. Warner Books, 2002. Edited by Curt Smith)
"I could field as long as I could remember, but hitting has been a struggle all my life."
“If you’re not practicing, somebody else is, somewhere, and he’ll be ready to take your job.”
“I’ll play out the sting and leave baseball without a tear. A man can’t play games his whole life.”
“I’ve never been hurt by a ground ball, and yet I’ve got more false teeth (from a batting cage accident) than a Polish fullback. Funny, isn’t it?”
“I wouldn’t mind seeing someone erase my record of hitting into four triple plays.” (Said after seeing one of his records fall in 1980.)
“This is the best time of the year (spring training). Heck, once the season starts, I go to work.”
“Whether you want to or not, you do serve as a role model. People will always put more faith in baseball players than anyone else.”
“I only have one speed, and it has never changed- that speed is very slow.”
"Frank Robinson was not out to make friends, but to knock someone on his tail."
“I had my picture taken with Home Run Baker. He came to the ballpark in the 50’s and I saw the glove he used. I don’t know how the hell they caught anything with those gloves, honest to God. The fingers were separated, unbelievable. “Mr. Baker, how’d you ever catch with that glove?”
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