Jerome Holtzman Quotations

Years later, I was in Baltimore one day and I talked to (then-manager) Johnny Oates. He said, 'You changed the game. You created the ninth-inning pitcher.' I said, 'It was the managers who did it. They started holding back their best relief pitchers to get saves.'

I looked into it and in nine or 10 of his wins, he gave up the tying run but got the win,

He was a great manager. He never missed a pitch. He had been a catcher, and one of the things he was very good at was that he knew when a pitcher was losing his stuff. He could anticipate so well. He just wouldn't wait until he was clobbered.

It all has to with his being a competitor. I'm sure a lot of guys could have gone on (as long) but they didn't have the fire in their belly.

a shortstop with some, but certainly not overwhelming promise.

You're missing someone who should be high on the list. Al Lopez knew pitching. He knew when a guy was losing it. He didn't take the pitcher out after he lost the lead; he took him out before he lost it. He was a catcher and knew the game. He's first on my list.

always thinking ahead two or three innings ahead. Whitey Herzog was a terrific baseball mind, and nobody's better than Bobby Cox.

Losing is the great American sin.