*It breaks your heart. It is designed to break your heart. The game begins in the spring when everything else begins again and it blossoms in summer, filling the afternoons and evenings and then as soon as the chill rains come,it stops and leaves you to face the fall alone.You count on it. Rely on it to buffer the passage of time, to keep the memory of sunshine and high skies alive and then just when the days are all twilight, when you need it most, it stops. – A. Bartlett Giamatti
*How long, O Lord? I cry for help but you do not listen. Why do you let me see ruin; why must I look at misery?
Then the Lord answered me and said:
For the vision still has its time, presses on to fulfilment, and will not disappoint; If it delays, wait for it,it will surely come, it will not be late. ~Habakkuk 1:2-3; 2:2-3
"He's certainly off to a start to be a legend," Carl Yastrzemski said.
"Boy," said the 80-year-old Williams, his legs weak but his voice resonating with the same I'll-be-damned conviction with which he has always offered an opinion, "I'm looking at someone who is going to be as good as anyone who has ever played the game. "I say that, and boy, I believe it, too. And the best thing about it is he's a terrific kid. "Boy, he's got so much going for himself. You'll be here, 10-15 years from now, singing the praises of Garciaparra. I can't say enough about him."
Nomar~"There are great players to my right and left,What we're making today, we can take care of our families for the rest of our lives. We're very fortunate. This was nothing we did. This is all that they did for us. I thank God first of all every day, and I thank these guys to my right and left. But saying thank you is not enough. We have to keep the tradition for all the young guys [Little Leaguers]. That's the only way we can say thank you for what you did for us." (Then he turned to Steinbrenner, the New York Yankees owner)"I want to say one thing to Mr. Steinbrenner and all you Yankee fans," said Garciaparra. "Congratulations, you had a heck of a year." (Steinbrenner wrapped his arm around Garciaparra, as if he planned to take him with him. "Too late. Garciaparra already belongs to Ted.")
*Nomar's awesome. He's just a flat-out stud. said by Trot Nixon."But don't take that the wrong way"
People always want to compare you to someone else, but you have to have your own style. If not, you can't be successful. Said by The Man Himself ~ Nomar!
*Nomar on winning AL Player of the Week: That means nothing to me. I want a World Series ring, and when I get one, I'll want five, one for each finger. That's why I play. That's the only reason I play.
*On his pre-atbat routines: I've done this since I was a little kid. I just like things tight when anything's on my feet or hands. I do my toe-tapping so my feet are at the end of my shoes, and the same things with my hands, my gloves mustn't be loose at all. Before I exert any energy, my shoes and gloves have to be tight.
*"You have to think that way in this game, or it can leave you behind," he said. "I don't look at what I did as a rookie or what I did last season. I have to look at what I can do to improve myself for today, and for the new season."
*"I have things to work on, lots of things," he said. "I want to be a better defensive player. I want to keep improving as a hitter. Most of all, I want us to have a winning team. Individual stats don't mean squat if you don't win. Playing on a team that wins the World Series - that's my goal, and that will always be my goal as a professional baseball player. Anything less, and you're falling short, so the personal statistics don't really matter."
*"Strength up the middle always has been a key in baseball," he said. "The championship clubs have that kind of defense. A lot of it revolves around the middle infielders, because we handle the ball so much. Then you have to have the pitching, the catching and the good guy in center field. Look at our club, and I think we're strong in all those areas." Garciaparra
*"I want to improve my range," he said. "I want to be able to get balls in certain tough areas, and I want to improve my throwing from certain areas. I also want to learn more about positioning myself on the various hitters. There's an awful lot to it."
*"The thing I like about Nomar is that he's never satisfied," said center fielder Darren Lewis. "He goes about his daily routines, always trying to get better. He's very confident in his own ability, but humble about it. I don't think anybody in baseball works harder."
*Rooting for the Yankees takes all the courage, imagination, conviction and baseball intelligence of Spam. Said by Rick Reilly. Next two quotes also by him from him..
*Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the good guy to win!
*[All Yankee fans not living in one of the five NY boroughs] who root for the team will be considered overdog-loving, Eveready-chucking, bandwagon-hopping, fair weather, brown nose, pucker-lipped human goiters and be required to turn in their pinstriped underwear or be tossed into the East River with only Chuch Knoblauch to throw them a life preserver.
*He's a baseball player from the time her gets up in the morning until the time he goes to sleep at night. -Dan Duquette
*I see the spark and desire and passion he has. It's refreshing to see a young player with that kind of makeup. this game need more Nomars. -Paul Molitor
*I'm not getting close to his cap to smell it. I can see five layers of sweat from the beginning of the year. He's got a pair of underwear with about two strands left. But he'll lose all that soon, once he realizes his talent and just plays the game. -Mo Vaughn
*I think he's lived up to the expectations and then some. I think that by the time he's done that he could probably be one of the best who has ever played, not just for the Red Sox, for all of baseball. -Darren Bragg
*I saw a lot of good things out there. We all dressed alike, which is good. And we all had the same hats out there. All the young kids, they all wore red hats, which is definitely a positive thing. -Nomar after this year's exibition opener
*He's built tremedously well, said Joseph Abboud, comparing him to Adonis, the mythological youth know for his good looks. His style is very natural and underplayed.
~1999 All Star Game Quotes~
All Star Game-Larry Walker: "I hope the grounds crew doesn't get too mad, because I tore this piece of grass out of right field. I'm taking it home, and I'm going to have it forever. I struck out and hit a comebacker to the mound at Fenway Park and I'm pretty proud of it."
All Star Game - Pedro Martinez: "It's been great. Out of all the All-Star Games I've been in, this is probably the most exciting one I've been to. I didn't know that Boston was going to be so much on top of the All-Star Game. I've been to a few of them, but what happened with Boston? What's here? Do the people eat baseball and drink baseball? It's unbelievable. I don't really have the words to explain how good it feels just to be part of it."
T-shirts worn by some fans: "Hey Roger Clemens, we're at the All-Star game at Fenway Park and you're not."
Larry Walker: "Were you throwing 400 miles an hour?" Pedro Martinez: "I don't think so."
Jim Thome: "It was like something out of 'Field of Dreams.'"
Ted Williams: "Wasn't it great! I can only describe it as great. It didn't surprise me all that much because I know how these fans are here in Boston. They love this game as much as any players and Boston's lucky to have the faithful Red Sox fans. They're the best."
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