"If you put a baseball and other toys in front of a baby, he'll pick up a baseball in preference to the others."

"It would be useless for any player to attempt to explain successful batting."

"Luck is the great stabilizer in baseball."

"Ruth made a grave mistake when he gave up pitching. Working once a week he might have lasted a long time and become a great star."

"The American boy starts swinging the bat about as soon as he can lift one."

"The Babe was a great ballplayer, sure, but Cobb was even greater. Babe could knock your brains out, but Cobb would drive you crazy."

"When I was a rookie, Cy Young used to hit me flies to sharpen my abilities to judge in advance the direction and distance of an outfield-hit ball."

"An outfield composed of Cobb, Speaker and Ruth, even with Ruth, lacks the combined power of DiMaggio, Musial and Williams." - Connie Mack

"Cobb would have to play center field on my all time team. But where would that put Speaker? In left. If I had them both, I would certainly play them that way." - John McGraw

"Despite spending most of his career in Ty Cobb's considerable shadow, Tris Speaker's .345 lifetime batting average and revolutionary defensive play made him one of Cobb's few rivals as the greatest player of the 1910s." - National Baseball Hall of Fame

"He simply did everything well. You couldn't ask for a better all-around player." - Joe Wood

"Speaker was the king of the outfield. It was always 'Take it,' or 'I got it.' In all the years we never bumped each other." - Duffy Lewis