Top 18 David Cone Quotes

I love being out there on the mound with the ball in my hand. I can control the game. I’m out there. No clock – nothing happens until I throw that thing. Nothing happens. I love that feeling.

Clemens and Maddux have defined our era, I believe. And Randy Johnson is right behind them and still going.

Part of what makes you great as a young player can hurt you at the end of your career, in terms of you need a certain amount of ego, a certain amount of arrogance to be able to play well and to push yourself and trick yourself into thinking you’re better than you really are.

I guess it kind of stemmed from my father. He was a union guy working for the meat plant down in Kansas City. He was a union guy, and I guess it was just in my blood.

My buddy David Wells is a big motorcycle guy, so when I go visit him in San Diego, he takes me out on his bike. He’s got some antique Indians. I never really rode during my career, because I was afraid I’d fall off and ruin my career.

It really gets into your system. All baseball players have this internal clock around February when it starts to kick in and the juices start to flow. I think underestimated how much I was going to miss it.

The owners said that they wanted the salary cap and refused to promise that they would abide by the rules of the just-expired contract after the season ended. Believing we had no choice, the players went on strike in August of 1994.

A major league pitching coach is a really difficult job. It takes a big commitment in terms of time, travel and workload.

I’m a finesse pitcher without the finesse.

I can’t remember a major league game where I could make eye contact with my dad. I kept wondering if he was going to yell at me for hanging a pitch or something.

I think I rushed and I needed more time with my comeback. I needed more time to get my legs stronger to be able to handle the workload. You can only train for that by pitching innings. You can’t simulate pitching off a mound in a game inside a weight room.

I think the changeup has become more popular recently by pitchers like Pedro Martinez and the success he had with it.

I was a professional baseball player from the time I was drafted out of high school in 1981 until the time I retired in 2003.

We just kind of relied on written scouting reports through the eighties and even the early nineties. I’ve really been amazed by some of the data that’s out there, especially with regards to tendencies of hitters, and certainly tendencies of pitchers as well. I would have loved to have gotten that data when I played.

We played hard and we partied hard. I’m not ashamed of that. I was no angel – I did some things I shouldn’t have done, lived a lifestyle I shouldn’t have lived. I had a blast at times; other times, I probably compromised my job, my duty to do my job, to be ready as a professional.

I have far too many skeletons in my closet to think about any sort of serious mention of public office.

Clemens, Seaver, Gibson, Maddux – I just don’t see myself in that category. I’m flattered that maybe it’s debatable at this point.

I love to pitch so much.