You can't sit on a lead and run a few plays into the line and just kill the clock. You've got to throw the ball over the damn plate and five the other man his chance. That's why baseball is the greatest game of them all.Collection: Chance
When you play for one run, that's usually all you get. I have nothing against the bunt in its place, but most of the time, that place is in the bottom of a long-forgotten closet.
In baseball, you can't kill the clock. You've got to give the other man his chance. That's why this is the greatest game.
There ain't no genius here. Strategy in baseball is overrated. People say, 'That Weaver, he plays for the long ball too much.' You bet I do. Hit 'em out. Then I got no worry about somebody lousing up a bunt, I got no worry about the hit and run - and that's really overrated - I got no worry about base-running errors. And I can't screw it up myself.
I became an optimist when I discovered that I wasn't going to win any more games by being anything else.
Nobody likes to hear it, because it's dull, but the reason you win or lose is darn near always the same - pitching.
I used to be a pretty good hit-and-run man when I played in the minors. I handled the bat well and could hit the ball to the right side of the infield. Nevertheless, I know that you often give the opposition an out on the hit-and-run play.
Until you're the person that other people fall back on, until you're the one that's leaned on, not the person doing the leaning, you're not an adult.
People always make a lot about how I don't carry grudges. That's my religious upbringing. I went nine years without missing Sunday school. Lutheran. I can't live with hatred inside of me. That's what I learned. I ain't scared of dying, either.
A manager's job is simple. For one hundred sixty-two games you try not to screw up all that smart stuff your organization did last December.
A manager should stay as far away as possible from his players. I don't know if I said ten words to Frank Robinson while he played for me.
The job of arguing with the umpire belongs to the manager, because it won't hurt the team if he gets thrown out of the game.
There are only three outs an inning, and they should be treasured. Give one away, and you're making everything harder for yourself.
Playing baseball is fun. If I could play, I'd never retire. But managing is work. It's constant decisions of whose feelings you want to hurt all the time.
If an umpire misses a called third strike and the other side ends up scoring because of it, I'm not going to forget it. If there are runners on second and third and two out, and if the umpire has just given the hitter an extra strike and the next pitch goes into the hole and both runs score, I've got to say something to the guy.
I really don't like confrontations. One of the reasons I'm retiring is that I'm tired of hurting people's feelings.
I wanted no part of losing. Why play if you can't beat the other guys more often than they beat you?
To keep your job, you fire others or bench them or trade them. You have to do the thinking for 25 guys, and you can't be too close to any of them.
You must remember that anyone under 30 - especially a ballplayer - is an adolescent. I never got close to being an adult until I was 32. Even though I was married and had a son at 20, I was a kid at 32, living at home with my parents. Sure, I was a manager then. That doesn't mean you're grown up.
The only thing I'd ever wanted in my life was to be a major-league ballplayer, but I had to admit to myself that I wasn't good enough. It broke my heart.
A manager has to convince his hitters that they have to get on base for the next guy and that no player can do it by himself. Sometimes that isn't easy. In the playoffs, you can get into trouble because everybody wants to be a hero.
Judging ballplayers and turning in reports, giving my opinion of who will get to the big leagues and who will not... I think my baseball judgment was really good.
Most of the umpires, it's amazing: 98 percent of them will not hold a grudge. I always felt a couple of them did. I never wanted to argue with an umpire in my life.