September 3, 2002

The Week in Quotes

August 26-September 1

by Derek Zumsteg

THE NIGHT BEFORE STRIKE DATE

"Now I'm kind of wondering what's next. I went to sleep with `Karate Kid' and woke up to Peter Gammons, which was a little frightening."
--Doug Mientkiewicz, Twins infielder, on falling asleep in front of his TV Thursday August 29th

NO STRIKE

"We think this is a fair agreement for both sides. It was hard-fought. But we think it will bring us closer to competitive balance and a fairer, more equitable salary structure."
--Bob DuPuy, Major League Baseball's president and chief operating officer

"It's an agreement we can live with, or we wouldn't have signed it."
--Don Fehr, Major League Baseball Players Association executive director

"I'm very, very happy to report that we've reached a historic agreement. There are a lot of people who didn't think they'd live long enough to see these two parties ever reach a deal without the loss of a single game."
--Bud Selig, Commissioner of Baseball

"This is a process that in the past has been tortured, troubled, difficult. It's a very long time since we've seen a collective bargaining agreement without a stoppage in play. This could not have been accomplished without a lot of effort by everyone."
--Fehr

"This agreement makes significant contributions to restoring competitive balance. It's in the best interest of the game."
--Selig

"I'm relieved we're not going to have a strike. I'm optimistic that this will help improve competitive balance. The Commissioner wouldn't have done a deal that didn't accomplish that."
--John Moores, owner of the San Diego Padres

"This isn't [NFL executives] Bert Bell or Pete Rozelle in the late '50s going to massive revenue sharing, which was extremely smart. This is not the NBA in the early '80s when it knew the system had to change to survive. This is taking a sport that resists change at all times and doing what it had to in order to move into the 21st Century."
--Selig

RANK AND FILE

"The thing about the last strike is that it was the players like me who got hurt. The union told us that the salaries would be spread out among everybody, but they weren't. I'll stick by the union if we walk, but sometimes I don't feel like the union sticks by players like me."
--Todd Pratt, Phillies catcher

"I really think both sides are a little ridiculous. You've got guys like Tom Hicks singing the blues. When he opens his mouth, he sounds so stupid. I don't know how anyone can feel sorry for someone like Hicks."
--Pratt

"I hated the players after [the 1994 strike]. I was like, 'They're so greedy. I'll play for free right now.' But now I see it's a different story."
--Rick Bauer, Orioles pitcher

"I'm very grateful and appreciative that the commissioner of baseball feels that 48 hours before another work stoppage, it's important enough for him to leave Milwaukee and go to New York."
--Al Leiter, Mets pitcher

"This is special, it really is. That's the best word for today: special."
--Barry Zito, Athletics pitcher

HOPEFULLY THE LAST LABOR-RELATED QUOTE OF THE YEAR

"The owners, they're the ones going out there giving all the big contracts. Look at [Rangers owner Tom] Hicks. Now all of a sudden he's screaming. Why did he offer $250 million [to A-Rod] -- $100 million above anybody else's offer? I think it's crazy. And then these guys are going to bitch and complain about all these disputes of luxury tax and all that."
--David Wells, Yankees pitcher

THE REST

"I stink last night. I stink big-time. That wasn't Lima time. That was Oakland time."
--Jose Lima, Tigers pitcher, after a poor outing against Oakland

"It's a new pitch in his repertory. We're going to take it out of his repertory."
--Jeff Torborg, Marlins manager, on a side-arm pitch by starter Michael Tejera that resulted in a home run

"You touch them, you burn yourself. You can't play those guys. They're so unbelievable."
--Torii Hunter, Twins outfielder, on the A's

"Every year, I take all my tapes back home [to the Dominican Republic], and I show them to my dad. This one might break. I'm going to watch it every day."
--Miguel Tejada, Athletics infielder, on his walk-off homer on Sunday

"While I was running, I looked up and I saw my dad (in a luxury box). He was jumping. It was funny to see him jumping. That's where I pointed."
--Tejada

"We left a lot of runners on base, we didn't run the bases well, we didn't pitch, I didn't manage. We might have had a better chance if I stayed home."
--Lloyd McClendon, Pirates manager

"I just hope Billy Beane stays with the A's. As long as he's here, we're going to be good. I'm talking about draft, raising guys up through the system and trades. All these things Billy does are unbelievable."
--Barry Zito, Athletics pitcher

"I was hoping we'd have to cordon off part of the restaurant, maybe get a private room, get eight, nine guys out for dinner. But two will do."
--Lou Piniella, Mariners manager, on his offer to his team to buy a steak dinner for a run batted in before a 2-0 win

If you would like to submit a quote, please email Derek and be sure to include both the quote itself and a URL pointing to the quote.