"I understand people who boo us. It's like going to Broadway show, you pay for your tickets and expect to be entertained. When you're not, you have a right to complain."

"The only reason I'm coming out here tomorrow is the schedule says I have to."

"It's a terrible thing to have to tell your fans, who have waited like Detroit's have, that their team won't win it this year. But it's better than lying to them."

"My idea of managing is giving the ball to Tom Seaver and sitting down and watching him work."

"The players make the manager, it's never the other way."

"Success is the person who year after year reaches the highest limits in his field."

"I only had a high school education and believe me, I had to cheat to get that."

"They say the first World Series is the one you remember most. No, no no. I guarantee you don't remember that one because the fantasy world you always dreamed about is suddenly real."

"Good seasons start with good beginnings."

"Players have two things to do. Play and keep their mouths shut."

"I don't believe a manager ever won a pennant. Casey Stengel won all those pennants with the Yankees. How many did he win with the Boston Braves and Mets?"

"The only thing I believe is this: A player does not have to like a manager and he does not have to respect a manager. All he has to do is obey the rules."

"People who live in the past generally are afraid to compete in the present. I've got my faults, but living in the past is not one of them. There's no future in it."

"You give us the pitching some of these clubs have and no one could touch us, but God has a way of not arranging that, because it's not as much fun."

"I don't want to embarrass any other catcher by comparing him to Johnny Bench."