Sandy Koufax Quotations

I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.

The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don't have to ask anyone or play politics. You don't have to wait for the reviews.

A guy that throws what he intends to throw, that's the definition of a good pitcher.

There is among us a far closer relationship than the purely social one of a fraternal organization because we are bound together not only by a single interest but by a common goal. To win. Nothing else matters, and nothing else will do.

Show me a guy who can't pitch inside and I'll show you a loser.

People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.

I think it's incredible because there were guys like Mays and Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years... I only had four or five good years.

I've got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with the complete use of my body.

If there was any magic formula, it was getting to pitch every fourth day.

Those guys had been there for 10 years trying to win a World Series. I think that was their biggest moment.

Except for getting hit by a foul ball,

This indicates I had good stuff. I had a good fast ball, especially late in the game. I felt loose and my control was better than it had been all year.

I pitched to Kuenn with everything I had left, ... They were all fast balls.

But I'm glad we got the run or we might have been here all night.

I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder.

I don't think I've ever seen anybody with quicker hands than Soriano.

I think it's incredible because there were guys like (Willie) Mays and (Mickey) Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years... I only had four or five good years.

I don’t know if cortisone is good for you or not. But to take a shot every other ball game is more than I wanted to do and to walk around with a constant upset stomach because of the pills and to be high half the time during a ball game because you’re taking painkillers, I don’t want to have to do that.

I can't believe that Babe Ruth was a better player than Willie Mays. (Babe) Ruth is to baseball what Arnold Palmer is to golf. He got the game moving. But I can't believe he could run as well as (Willie) Mays, and I can't believe he was any better an outfielder.

If I could straighten it out (his golf swing), I'd be pitching at Dodger Stadium tonight.

It's better to throw a theoretically poorer pitch whole-heartedly, than to throw the so-called right pitch with feeling of doubt-doubt that's it's right, or doubt that you can make it behave well at that moment. You've got to feel sure you're doing the right thing-sure that you want to throw the pitch you're going to throw.

I can't picture people talking about me 50 years from now.

He's the strangest hitter in baseball. Figure him out one way and he'll kill you another.

The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for a strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts - outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.

In the end it all comes down to talent. You can talk all you want about intangibles, I just don't know what that means. Talent makes winners, not intangibles. Can nice guys win? Sure, nice guys can win - if they're nice guys with a lot of talent. Nice guys with a little talent finish fourth and nice guys with no talent finish last.

Pitching is the art of instilling fear.