Joe DiMaggio Quotations

I'm just a ballplayer with one ambition, and that is to give all I've got to help my ball club win. I've never played any other way.

I can remember a reporter asking me for a quote, and I didn't know what a quote was. I thought it was some kind of soft drink.

A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.

When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game.

There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first time. I owe him my best.

You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you're a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.

A ball player has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues.

I feel like I have reached the stage where I can no longer produce for my club, my manager, and my teammates. I had a poor year, but even if I had hit .350, this would have been my last year. I was full of aches an pains and it had become a chore for me to play. When baseball is no longer fun, it's no longer a game.

We need a hit, so here I go.

You start chasing a ball and your brain immediately commands your body to 'Run forward, bend, scoop up the ball, peg it to the infield,' then your body says, 'Who me?'

Now I've had everything except for the thrill of watching Babe Ruth play.

The phrase 'off with the crack of the bat', while romantic, is really meaningless, since the outfielder should be in motion long before he hears the sound of the ball meeting the bat.

If you keep thinking about what you want to do or what you hope will happen, you don't do it, and it won't happen.

If anyone wants to know why three kids in one family made it to the big leagues they just had to know how we helped each other and how much we practiced back then. We did it every minute we could.

Too many kids today are playing major league ball and don't belong there.

I think there are some players born to play ball.

I would hang every human being who possesses a drop of rebel blood in their veins.

It is an interesting coincidence. I guess I am following in his footsteps, ... 'Where have you gone Joe DiMaggio? A nation turns its lonely eyes to you?' I'll tell people my name and they don't get it.

When order was finally restored, ... Casey was like a raging wild man. He poured over two strikes, and I singled off the next pitch. Tommy stopped at second.

There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.

A ball player's got to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family ever made the big leagues.

Then Mr. Gehrig is a badly underpaid player.

It's a miracle that he survived, ... He has skin burn and he was dehydrated and you can estimate he probably went at least a day or two without water.

In that case Mr. Barrow, Mr. Gehrig is a very underpaid ballplayer.

It's got to be better than rooming with Joe Page.

There's always some youngster coming up- they'll find somebody.

Just two words: a masterpiece.

Baseball didn't really get into my blood until I knocked off that hitting streak. Getting a daily hit became more important to me than eating, drinking or sleeping.

If I were sitting down with George Steinbrenner (to discuss a salary) and based on what Dave Winfield got for his statistics, I'd have to say, 'George, you and I are about to become partners.'

After I got that hit off Satchel (Paige), I knew I was ready for the big leagues.

The absolute worst thing a person can say about your pictures is, '"That's nice." It's the kiss of death.

There’s nobody taking center from me until I give it up.

You ought to run the hardest when you feel the worst. Never let the other guy know you're down.

I want to thank the good lord for making me a yankee

When you have five or six potential hall of famers on your team ... that's when you win penants and championships. The only thing you have to be concerned about is getting the ballplayers to bed on time.

I'm a ballplayer, not an actor.

I thought he had been shot.

I played my best everyday. You never know when someone may be seeing you play for the first time.

The reason I play so hard is that somewhere out there is some kid who has never seen me play before, and I don't want to disappoint him.

It's great to be young and be a Yankee!

Putting the Yankee uniform on every day.

All pitchers are born pitchers.

I'm proud to have been a Yankee. But I have found more happiness and contentment since I came back home to San Francisco than any man has a right to deserve. This is the friendliest city in the world.

At my age, I'm just happy to be named the greatest living anything.

I always thought there was at least one person in the stands who had never seen me play, and I didn't want to let him down.

The test of an outfielder's skill comes when he has to go against the fence to make a catch.

Now this is over thirty years later and the guy said he was that cab driver. He apologized and he was serious. I felt awful. He might have been spending his whole life thinking he had jinxed me, but I told him he hadn't. My number was up.

Motivation is something nobody else can give you. Others can help motivate you, but basically it must come from you and it must be a constant desire to do your very best at all times and under any circumstances.

I no longer have it (desire to play).