Top 60 Pete Rose Quotes

I don’t think there’s any honor bigger than going to your Hall of Fame for your sport.

Umpires got power, man. You ever notice if you go to a ballpark and there’s a close play on first base, they will not run the replay at the ballpark? I’ve seen umpires go underneath and call up and say if you run one more of those replays, we’re gonna forfeit the game. That’s how strong their union is.

Playing baseball for a living is like having a license to steal.

Are you tall? Are you strong? How big are your hands? You must be honest with yourself or you will end up using the wrong bat.

Doctors tell me I have the body of a thirty year old. I know I have the brain of a fifteen year old. If you’ve got both, you can play baseball.

I love the fans, I love the game of baseball, and I love Cincinnati baseball.

I had an addiction to play baseball.

Sparky Anderson taught me this a long time ago: ‘There’s three ways you can treat a person. You can pat ’em on the butt, you can kick ’em in the butt, or you can leave ’em alone.’

With the money I’m making, I should be playing two positions.

You don’t dominate any sport when you’re over 40.

A lot of these catchers don’t understand that they are blocking the plate and they don’t have the ball. You’re not allowed to block the plate without the ball.

No one ever asked what was my relationship with Bart Giamatti. We used to talk about baseball a lot as a player and a commissioner, just talk about the game, what could we do to help the game, where’s the game going, he was pretty good.

I bet on my team to win every night because I love my team; I believe in my team. I did everything in my power every night to win that game.

Willie Mays could throw better, and Hank Aaron could hit more home runs. But I’ve got enthusiasm. I’ve got desire. I’ve got hustle. Those are God-given talents, too.

I’m not going to go back to gambling; I mean, it’s as simple as that.

The greatest competitor was Bob Gibson. He worked so fast out there and he always had the hood up. He always wanted to close his own deal. He never talked to you because he was battling so hard. I sure as hell don’t miss batting against him, but I miss him in the game.

When you ask people about guys they didn’t like because they were aggressive, there’s me, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors; not too many names would come up.

Sometimes, when you don’t have spark, someone in the dugout has to create something.

The game of baseball is better when the Dodgers are playing well, just like when the Yankees are playing well, or the Cubs, the Phillies, the big-name teams.

There is an old saying that money can’t buy happiness. If it could, I would buy myself four hits every game.

My father taught me that the only way you can make good at anything is to practice, and then practice some more.

The manager of a team is like a stagecoach, he can’t move unless he has the horses.

Never bet on baseball.

Some players you pat their butts, some players you kick their butts, some players you leave alone.

Your obligation as a base runner is to try and be safe within the rules. OK?

If baseball wants to get you, they’ve got enough resources and enough investigators that they’ll find a way to get you.

The team that wins two-thirds of its one run games usually wins the pennant.

A team will take on its manager’s personality. If it’s a laid back manager, you’ll have a laid back personality. The players will see that if it’s OK for the Manager to be laid back, then you’ll have a laid back team.

I bet on baseball in 1987 and 1988.

I would think if someone connected to steroids made the Hall of Fame, that would enhance my chances of making the Hall of Fame.

When guys do books or stories, all I like to see is the truth.

I met Gerald Ford. I met Richard Nixon. I met Jimmy Carter. I met Dwight Eisenhower when he was a general. George Bush senior. I haven’t met Bill Clinton or George W. Bush, although I got a letter from him.

Who cares if you bunt for a base hit?

Of course, I believe that Mike Piazza is probably the greatest offensive catcher in the history of baseball, only got over 50%. Johnny Bench is the best catcher in the history of baseball, but Piazza has all the record for catchers as far as offensively.

I actually went to some Gamblers Anonymous classes, and I sat there for three or four of them, and I’m trying to figure out what I have in similarities with these other people, and I could never find anything. It just seems like it wasn’t the right place for me.

When people think of me, they think about me knocking catchers down and knocking second basemen down and yelling at pitchers. But when I took the spikes off after the game, I was a nice guy when I went home.

I admitted I bet on baseball, but I wasn’t suspended from baseball for betting on baseball.

I like Barack Obama as a person. He’s articulate, he knows sports, his brother-in-law’s a coach. He always has the athletes to the White House. But I don’t know about some of his policies and some of these people in Congress.

Can you be a nicer gentleman, or a better man for your sport or your kids than Joe Paterno?

I always liked the defensive part of baseball.

I can’t remember, I wish I could remember the first time I bet on baseball.

It’s a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square.

Somebody’s gotta win and somebody’s gotta lose and I believe in letting the other guy lose.

I am grateful that I live in a nation where most believe that one’s punishment should fit their wrongdoing and that ours is a nation that judges an individual by both what he has done and how he has changed.

I never gave up as a player, and I won’t give up as someone who wants to go to the Hall of Fame, because it’s the ultimate goal for a baseball player or a football player or a basketball player.

I came to Vegas because I work 20 days a month here; I couldn’t live anywhere else.

I never picked up my phone and called a bookmaker and bet on a baseball game from the clubhouse. Never.

Baseball is an individual game, but it should never be a personal game.

If somebody is gracious enough to give me a second chance, I won’t need a third.

I’m built like my dad. Stocky, strong.

You know, baseball’s not stupid. Baseball does what the fans want, usually.

In the old days, you know, they didn’t have batting cages. And in most ball parks, they only had one runway to the dugout.

When I get the record, all it will make me is the player with the most hits. I’m also the player with the most at bats and the most outs. I never said I was a greater player than Cobb.

Obama’s a great speaker. Because of his speaking ability and his appearance, a lot of guys got on board. Being the first African American, a lot guys got on board.

My body is my best asset.

If you screw up and do something, don’t lie about it; come clean.

I get accused of talking about records. But it’s the guys who interview me who ask about them.

I was born on the day Lincoln was shot and the Titanic sank.

There is no doubt that because I am a switch hitter I have one of the best offensive advantages that a hitter can have.

I don’t go to bed every night worried about getting back into baseball.