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"I'm pretty excited, this is a big, big one."
– George Steinbrenner, the Yankees owner, on the Alex Rodriguez trade.
"We play today, we win today - that's it."
- Mariano Duncan
"Some kids dream of joining the circus, other of becoming a major league baseball player. As a member of the New York Yankees, I've gotten to do both."
-Graig Nettles
third baseman (1979 - 83), on the Yankees' "Bronx Zoo" days of the 1970s.
"I will say this, I don't know if any other team in New York has done any better."
-George Steinbrenner on the 2000 Yankees
"You don't win 114 games by being lucky."
- Mike Hargrove
manager, Cleveland Indians, on the 1998 Yankees
"We don't have one big guy. We have a team full of big guys."
- Tim Raines
outfielder-designated hitter, on the 1998 world champions.
"I don't think I've ever seen anybody with quicker hands than (Alfonso) Soriano."
– Hall of Fame LHP Sandy Koufax
"You play the game to win the game, and not to worry about what's on the back of the baseball card at the end of the year."
- Paul O'Neill
"He stopped everything behind the plate and hit everything in front of it."
- Mel Ott on former Yankee catcher Yogi Berra
"Boomer is ... Boomer. That pretty much tells you all you need to know"
- Joe Torre on David Wells
"The essence of the Yankees is that they win. From in front or from behind, they win. And that's why the history of the New York Yankees is virtually the history of baseball."
- Dave Anderson
The New York Times
"To be a Yankee is a thought in everyone's head . . .Just walking into Yankee Stadium, chills run through you. I believe there was a higher offer, but no matter how much money is offered, if you want to be a Yankee, you don't think about it."
- Jim "Catfish" Hunter
pitcher (1975-79), on his heralded free agency signing, New Years Eve 1974.
"If you saw that Yankee pitching too often, there would be a lot of guys doing different jobs."
- Joe Rudi
Oakland A's outfielder
"When you go to other parks, they hang banners for the wild-card or Eastern Division or Western Division champions. Around here, they don't hang anything unless its for being world champions."
- Chili Davis
outfielder-designated hitter (1998-99)
"I never knew how someone who was dying could say he was the luckiest man in the world. But now I understand."
- Mickey Mantle
June 8, 1969 referring to Lou Gehrigs immortal farewell speach the day Mantle's No. 7 was retired at Yankee Stadium.
"If you're a Yankee fan, or if you're not a Yankee fan - you have to admit, we're winners."
- Paul O'Neill
"We are the New York Yankees"
- George Steinbrenner
"It's something inside his heart that's bigger than anything. He's got the heart of a lion about to grab something."
- Darryl Strawberry on David Cone
Source of all quotes: The Yankees Century: Voices and Memories of the Pinstripe Past by Alan Ross
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