Reggie Jackson

“I probably hit 35 balls into the right-field bleachers.”

“The will to win is worthless if you don't get paid for it.”

“Please God, let me hit one. I'll tell everybody you did it.”

“I've always been able to hear and read what I say before I say it. That's why I'm a good quote. Or a good interview. If I say something that's uncomfortable for someone's ears, it's going to be the truth; I just happen to voice it. But it's the truth. It's not my opinion.”

“When you've played this game for ten years and gone to bat seven-thousand times and gotten two-thousand hits do you know what that really means? It means you've gone zero for five-thousand.”

“There are at least three kinds of advantages that the pitcher and batter contest. There's the physical advantage, the strategic advantage, and also the psychological advantage. I didn't want two out of three. I wanted them all.”

“This is what happens when you get old and have a couple of bucks. You go back and try to be young again.”

“Misconception Number 1, the public always thought, 'Reggie has a massive ego; he's narcissistic, he's cocky, he needs everyone to look at him all the time,' because that's what the media told them. Wrong. I could handle the attention. I didn't let the attention affect my performance. But I never needed the attention.”

“I didn't come to New York to be a star, I brought my star with me.”

“If I played in New York, they'd name a candy bar after me.”

“I know I never saw Casey Stengel when I was being scouted. And how could you be in a ballpark and not know if Casey Stengel was there?”

“I don't mind getting beaten, but I hate to lose.”

“I was reminded that when we lose and I strike out, a billion people in China don't care.”

“When you hit a player in the head, you're more apt to get some fisticuffs or, you know, bring both teams out on the field, but it was more accepted that - in the '50s, '60s and '70s. I think nowadays it's a little over-policed because I will always believe that knocking a hitter down, even hitting a hitter at, sometimes, is part of baseball.”

“I didn't see Kirby Puckett as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Gary Carter as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Don Sutton as a Hall of Famer. I didn't see Phil Niekro as a Hall of Famer. As much as I like Jim Rice, I'm not so sure he's a Hall of Famer.”

“If I played today, I'd stay in trouble. I'd be in the commissioner's office all the time, I guess. I'd be everywhere - including where I wasn't supposed to be.”

“I'm tired of hearing people say 'Reggie Jackson needs New York, needs the media, needs the attention.' I've always gotten it whenever I wanted it.”

“The only reason I don't like playing in the World Series is I can't watch myself play.”

“No. No, no, no, no, Blyleven wasn't even the dominant pitcher of his era - it was Jack Morris.”

“You don't face Nolan Ryan without your rest. He's the only guy I go against that makes me go to bed before midnight.”