The McFarland Baseball Quotations Dictionary, 3d ed.

“I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote, and I didn’t know what a quote was. I thought it was some kind of soft drink.”—Joe DiMaggio, Hall of Fame outfielder.
Back again, for a third edition, this compendium of the greatest baseball quotes of all time offers both the wisdom of the world and the bull of the bullpen. From the absurd and profound “Yogi-isms” of Yogi Berra (“If you come to a fork in the road, take it”) to some of the best put-downs ever (“He’s good, but I don’t think there’s anyone in the world who’s as good as he thinks he is”), this work (organized by theme) will remind every reader that there is plenty of time for conversation while the game goes on.

David H. Nathan has written for several newspapers and publications including USA Today Baseball Weekly and Sports Collectors Digest, and was a regular contributor to Elysian Fields Quarterly. He has written plays, short stories, and even won haiku competitions. Since 1995, he has taught English in Houston. He lives in Bellaire, Texas.

Compiled by David H. Nathan
Format: softcover (7 x 10)
Pages: 350
Bibliographic Info: appendix, indexes
Copyright Date: 2011
pISBN: 978-0-7864-4790-9
eISBN: 978-0-7864-8469-0
Imprint: McFarland

Introduction      1
Aging Gracefully      3
Alibis, Excuses and Analysis      9
The All-Time Greats      13
Amazing Accomplishments and Records      21
Anger and Intensity      30
At the Stadium      34
Attitude Problems      39
A Ballplayer’s Life      44
Base Running      48
Baseball Fans of Note      53
Baseball 101: The Fundamentals      57
Batter Up      61
Battle of the Sexes      66
The Broadcast Booth      70
The Bullpen      78
The Business Section      82
Crossing the White Line      93
Defense      97
The Disabled List      105
Elixirs and Pharmaceuticals      109
Farewell Addresses      115
Food Fights and Weighty Issues      118
Golf, or How I Spent My Off Day      123
Home Runs      125
Hyperbolic Praise      130
Insults      133
Intelligence      137
Law and Order: MLB      144
The Lighter Side of Baseball      149
The Literate View      155
Logic Problems      162
Looks Aren’t Everything      167
Losses, Losing and Losers      173
Malapropisms and Fractured Speech      187
Managing to Manage      191
Media Relations      199
Modesty      203
Number Problems      207
Odds and Ends      211
Owners and Executives      221
Physical Fitness      229
Pitching In      232
Predictions      244
Religion      248
Road Trips      251
Sex: The Other National Pastime      270
Slump-Busting      273
Strategy      276
Today and Yesterday      280
Transactions      286
Umpires      295
Winning      300

INDIVIDUALS
Kinerisms: The Best of Ralph Kiner      303
Maverick Owner: Bill Veeck      305
The Old Professor Speaks: The Words of Casey Stengel      308
Yogi-isms: The Wisdom of Yogi Berra      312

Appendix: Rank by Number of Quotations      317
Name Index      319
Subject Index      333

• “recommended”—Booklist
• “highly amusing and entertaining reading…this work has certainly earned its place on sports reference shelves…exhaustively researched”—Reference Reviews
• “brings together some of the best lines from the whole field of baseball”—Public Library Quarterly
• “a useful addition”—Choice
• “include[s] the most famous quotes about the game and the most colorful characters in it”—ARBA
• “a wealth of information…a detailed name index…valuable…easy-to-navigate…so much merit that it deserves a prominent spot on the baseball bookshelf”—Legends
• “the best quips and observations on the grand old game in the past hundred years”—USA Today Sports Weekly
• “twice the number of quotations from his earlier edition”—The SABR Bulletin
• “detailed ascriptions for each quote provide context and elaboration”—Sports Collectors Digest