Under the attempt to perform the impossible, there sets a general disintegration

I knew when my career was over.

You throw batting practice, you warm up pitchers, you sit and cheer. You do whatever you have to do to stay on the team.

We were on for six years. We were in syndication for a while. It had its run. I still see the people from ‘Mr. Belvedere,’ too. We stay in touch.

I used to soak my mitts in a bucket of water for about two days. Then I’d put a couple of baseballs in the pocket and wrap it up with a rubber band. Today you don’t have to do that, because catchers’ mitts are more like first baseman’s gloves.

Anybody with ability can play in the big leagues. To last as long as I did with the skills I had, with the numbers I produced, was a triumph of the human spirit.

Anyone with talent can play in the Major Leagues; for someone like me to stay around as long as I did, I think that’s a much greater acheivement.

I had slumps that lasted into the winter.

People have asked me a lot of times, because I didn’t hit a lot, how long a dozen bats would last me. Depending on the weight and model I was using at that time – I would say eight to 10 cookouts.

Anybody with ability can play in the big leagues. But to be able to trick people year in and year out the way I did, I think that was a much greater feat.

Sure, women sportswriters look when they’re in the clubhouse. Read their stories. How else do you explain a capital letter in the middle of a word?

Sporting goods companies pay me not to endorse their products.

You know, I was once named Minor League Player of the Year…unfortunately, I had been in the majors for two years at the time.

My kids used to do things to aggravate me, too. I’d take them to a game, and they’d want to come home with a different player.

Before broadcasting for 50-some years, I did TV, played 10 years in the big leagues, won a world championship – and played a big part in that, too, letting the Cardinals inject me with hepatitis. Takes a big man to do that.

After getting out of the service and going into baseball I never wanted to do anything else.

The way to catch a knuckleball is to wait until it stops rolling and then pick it up.

Any teammate of mine that had a kid and a boy that was capable of playing baseball, I think I set a terrific example of ‘Don’t do this’ and ‘Don’t do that.’ And that’s one of the things that I’m most proud of.

I had been playing for a while, and I asked Louisville Slugger to send me a dozen flame treated bats. But when I got it, I realized they had sent me a box of ashes.

Baseball hasn’t forgotten me. I go to a lot of old-timers games and I haven’t lost a thing. I sit in the bullpen and let people throw things at me. Just like old times.

Let’s face it. Umpiring is not an easy or happy way to make a living. In the abuse they suffer, and the pay they get for it, you see an imbalance that can only be explained by their need to stay close to a game they can’t resist.

Where would I be without baseball? Who am I without baseball?

On TV the people can see it. On radio you’ve got to create it.

Not bragging by any means, but I could have done a lot of other stuff as far as working in films go and working in television. I had chances to do that stuff, but I like baseball, I really do.

They have Easter egg hunts in Philadelphia, and if the kids don’t find the eggs, they get booed.

The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh, I was proud.

The highlight of my baseball career came in Philadelphia’s Connie Mack Stadium when I saw a fan fall out of the upper deck. When he got up and walked away, the crowd booed.

Between me and my roommate, we’ve hit 400 Major League home runs.

If a guy hits .300 every year, what does he have to look forward to? I always tried to stay around .190, with three or four RBI. And I tried to get them all in September. That way I always had something to talk about during the winter.

They broke it to me gently. The manager came up to me before a game and told me they didn’t allow visitors in the clubhouse.

People don’t know this, but I helped the Cardinals win the pennant. I came down with hepatitis. The trainer injected me with it!

I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture.