MLB Power Rankings: The 25 Strangest Quotes in League History
America's pastime has seen a number of great ballplayers and incredible games. The game has been full of extraordinary events, but it's also had its odd moments. Players have been quoted as saying some crazy things throughout the course of MLB history.
With that said, here's a list of the 25 strangest quotes in league history.
No. 25
1 of 25
"Baseball has been good to me since I quit trying to play it." Whitey Herzog
Herzog starts this list off with a bang. I guess it's safe to say that Whitey had a winner's attitude.
No. 24
2 of 25
"The key to winning baseball games is pitching, fundamentals and three-run homers." Earl Weaver
Weaver hits us with this quote that must be hammering in the obvious to people who already are aware that a three-run home run will strongly impact a game.
No. 23
3 of 25
"I went through baseball as 'a player to be named later.'" Joe Garagiola
Normally, a player to be named later is a throw in for a trade. These players are usually not expected to do much. Weird that Joe would call himself one of those...
.png?w=256)
No. 22
4 of 25
"Get out the rye bread and mustard grandma, cause it's grand salami time!" Dave Niehaus
It's a well-respected call right now, but imagine what it was like the first time Niehaus used this expression. I'm assuming it was a similar reaction to when people first saw Criss Angel walk on water.
No. 21
5 of 25
"All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height." Casey Stengel
Not much to say about this one...except for that I'm surprised that Yogi Berra didn't say it first.
No. 20
6 of 25
"He hits from both sides of the plate. He's amphibious." Yogi Berra
The first of many Yogi-isms comes in at No. 20. Man, this guy was creative...or nuts.
No. 19
7 of 25
"The team has come along slow but fast." Casey Stengel
Seriously, you can't tell me that this guy and Yogi didn't hang out and come up with these together.
No. 18
8 of 25
"I'm not a quitter. When I want to quit, I'll do a lot of stupid things and make sure they fire me and get paid." Ozzie Guillen
I guess strange wouldn't be the word to describe this quote, but come on...who says this out loud?
No. 17
9 of 25
"If a horse can't eat it, I don't want to play on it." Dick Allen
A weird way to look at playing on artificial turf, wouldn't you say?
No. 16
10 of 25
"The season starts too early and finishes too late and there are too many games in between." Bill Veeck
Bill's quote comes in at No. 16 on the list. Somebody should tell Bill that beggars can't be choosers.
No. 15
11 of 25
"If I were playing third base and my mother were rounding third with the run that was going to beat us, I'd trip her. Oh, I'd pick her up and brush her off and say, 'Sorry, Mom,' but nobody beats me." Leo Durocher
I admire Leo's competitive fire, but seriously, who puts themselves in this type of hypothetical situation? Besides maybe that coach for the New York Jets.
No. 14
12 of 25
"Totally unprofessional and out of line." John Rocker
There's really nothing strange about this quote at all...just that it came out of the real life Kenny Powers' mouth.
No. 13
13 of 25
“He could still score touchdowns. And I bet Joe Montana can still throw touchdowns...As an athlete, your time's going to come and your time's going to go. I can outrun you once, I just can't do it three, four or five times.” Barry Bonds
It's weird that Bonds would concede defeat and admit that he was no longer capable of performing like he used to. It's almost as if the guy is completely unaware that performance enhancing drugs exist.
No. 12
14 of 25
"We made too many wrong mistakes." Yogi Berra
Yogi comes in at No. 12 with one of the greatest postgame explanations of all-time. By the way, get used to seeing this name a lot more in the top 10...he was full of these comments.
No. 11
15 of 25
"I am dead set against free agency. It can ruin baseball." George Steinbrenner
Again, this is not a strange quote...but look who said it. I'm a New York Yankees fan who can admit this is the definition of hypocrisy.
No. 10
16 of 25
"Congratulations. I knew the record would stand until it was broken." Yogi Berra
Like I said earlier, Yogi will not go away during the rest of these power rankings. He was the king of strange.
No. 9
17 of 25
"The triple is the most exciting play in baseball. Home runs win a lot of games, but I never understood why fans are so obsessed with them." Hank Aaron
I didn't expect to find Aaron on here. I thought he was one of those players who was all business, but here's his other side. There have been quotes similar to this one before, but this is more meaningful because of who said it. It's also more strange because of who said it.
No. 8
18 of 25
"If my uniform doesn't get dirty, I haven't done anything in the baseball game." Rickey Henderson
It's weird that a strange quote like this one could be so true. Rickey played the game hard and that meant getting down and dirty. This quote may seem strange to some, but you'd understand if you watched Henderson play for just one game in your life.
No. 7
19 of 25
"I never blame myself when I'm not hitting. I just blame the bat and if it keeps up, I change bats. After all, if I know it isn't my fault that I'm not hitting, how can I get mad at myself?" Yogi Berra
Yogi comes in again at No. 7 and with good reason. This quote is strange...very strange. Imagine being in the clubhouse with Yogi and Casey at the same time.
No. 6
20 of 25
"The doctors x-rayed my head and found nothing." Dizzy Dean
This quote by Dean is one of the weirder things you'll hear a baseball player say. Then again, it's not too strange if you just analyze the quote. I mean they are saying that he lacks a brain, right?
No. 5
21 of 25
"I'm a lucky guy and I'm happy to be with the Yankees. And I want to thank everyone for making this night necessary." Yogi Berra
Another incredible Yogi quote...what a class act.
No. 4
22 of 25
"I hope I die on the field. I hope when I walk to change the pitcher, I drop dead and that’s it. I know my family would be so happy that it happened on the field. They wouldn’t feel bad because that’s what I’ve always wanted to do." Ozzie Guillen
In a twisted, sick way this makes perfect sense. Ozzie loves the game and wouldn't mind going out showing it. On the other hand, he is wishing death upon himself.
No. 3
23 of 25
“I want people to say Milton Bradley was a pretty good ballplayer and a pretty good person. Anybody who is going to stand between me getting there, then they need to be eliminated.” Milton Bradley
Number three on this list is provided by one of my favorite players in the league, Bradley. This is a contradicting quote considering it's tough to be remembered as a good person when you're killing people who disagree.
No. 2
24 of 25
"Ability is the art of getting credit for all the home runs somebody else hits." Casey Stengel
It's only fitting that Casey ends up even higher on this list, being that he has already had a few other strange quotes. This one is by far his strangest and one of the oddest quotes in baseball history. This, by the way, is the Guy Fieri theory of cooking. Walk around in the kitchen of unknown restaurants and act like you're a chef.
No. 1
25 of 25
"Baseball is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical." Yogi Berra
Coming in as the No. 1 Yogi-ism and strangest quote of all-time in general is this one. Yogi simply outdoes himself with this line. Never has anything made less sense in the world, yet it's taken as a lesson simply because Yogi said it.
.png?w=480)
