Since pitchers are a species unto themselves, I felt the subject deserved a page all its own.

Pitchers have personalities, just like people do.

I give up over 200 hits a year. What's one more?

It hurt more giving up the home run to you than being hit by you.

The whole concept is to know what the guy up at bat is looking for but throw it at a different speed than he expects.

Nothing makes a pitcher feel more secure than the sight of his teammates circling the bases during a ball game.

Let them think I throw it. That gives me an edge because it's another pitch they have to worry about. ... I'd love to use it, if I knew how. Burleigh Grimes told me five years ago not to monkey around with it, but to let them think I threw it. That's what I've done.

Great pitchers demonstrate composure, pride, and competitive instincts. They don't allow trivial things to upset them. ... Players who commit errors need reassurance from the pitcher, who must harbor no grudges.

Believe me, I would much rather get three outs on three pitches than three outs on nine pitches, because that's going to make me that much stronger at the end of the game. My pitching philosophy is simple. I believe in getting the ball over the plate and not walking a lot of men.

Hitters aren't stupid, but sometimes I think they believe they are smarter than they really are.

I don't know what you're going to do, Mr. Dean, but I'm not going to give up any runs if we have to stay here all night.

If a man can beat you, walk him.

If Mr. Hornsby'd known as much about hitting as he thought he knew about pitching, Ty Cobb never would have held all those hitting records. Hornsby would have.

Just take the ball and throw it where you want to. Throw strikes. Home plate don't move.

Nobody likes the ball low and away, but that's where you're going to get it from me. I been pitching it there 50 years, away from them. That way they can't hurt you. You keep the ball in the park.

There you is and there you is going to stay.

Most pitchers are too smart to manage.

The man with the ball is responsible for what happens to the ball.

The most important thing in pitching is the element of surprise -- you have to throw every pitch with the same motion. ... There are two ways of surprising a batter. One is in the sphere of space. When the ball hops or sinks or curves, the batter can't be sure where it's coming. The other is in the sphere of time. If you throw fast one time and slow another time and medium slow another time, the batter can't be sure when it's coming. I like a young man who does both.

What's the matter with you? Other pitchers win their games 9-3, 10-2. You win yours 2-1, 1-0. Why don't you win your games like the others?

You have no idea the pressure a young pitcher is under. I've walked out to the mound in the middle of an inning and the pitcher couldn't tell me his telephone number. By walking out, you calm him down. ... Yelling at a boy from the bench is confusing and ridiculous.

You never have control of the situation. The pitcher does.

My job isn't to strike guys out; it's to get them out, sometimes by striking them out.

I'm not a home run pitcher. I'm a singles pitcher.

Hitting is timing. Pitching is upsetting timing.

I'm always amazed when a pitcher becomes angry at a hitter for hitting a home run off him. When I strike out, I don't get angry at the pitcher, I get angry at myself. I would think that if a pitcher threw up a home run ball, he should be angry at himself.

He threw the ball as far from the bat and as close to the plate as possible.

One thing all managers hear that doesn't make any sense at all is for a pitcher to say, "I ought to have a right to stay in and win or lose my own game." He doesn't have that right. It isn't just his game. There are 24 other players who have a stake in it, plus the manager and the coaches, and everybody else in the organization. All have worked to field the team and are affected by what happens.

1. There is no mystery to pitching.

2. The object simply is to get the ball over.

3. Each pitcher has to learn to make the most of what he has.

4. Maybe it's time to revise pitching standards, and not expect a man to complete half or three-quarters of the games he starts.

5. I don't think it's necessary to enlarge the strike zone or bring back a lot of mechanical pitches.

6. If they want to do something for the pitchers, then let them raise the seams on the ball.

7. Pitchers will learn or figure out some way to get even with the hitters and eventually stop them.

It's often said you win with pitching and defense. That's not true. You stop yourself from losing with pitching and defense, until the offense finds a way to score runs.

You almost get the impression from listening to him that he remembers every pitch he ever threw.

Every time you see this guy shake something off, you gotta think, "Oh jeez, what's coming NOW?"

Skip Caray: "Everybody prepares for a game in a different way. That young man [a toddler in the stands] has a Tweety Bird, a blanket, and a pacifier."

Joe Simpson: "He could be a pitcher."

This guy issues a walk about as often as J.D. Salenger issues a public statement.

On paper, it looks like Jim Corsi is a piece of crap.

Sometimes the pivotal inning is the fifth, not the ninth.

Watching Jimmy Key pitch, you kind of wonder when the mirrors are gonna come off.

To go out and put up the numbers year in and year out, if there's somebody in baseball, if you want to classify it as an everyday player or pitcher, if there is somebody in that group that deserves to be the highest paid person in his peer group, Greg Maddux is definitely the guy.

You are definitely overlooked. The only time you are going to see yourself on ESPN is if you give up a home run.

If you can't get up to pitch at Yankee Stadium, there's something wrong.

I guess I wouldn't want to pitch well and lose. It doesn't look as good on my resume.

If they didn't pay me anything, I'd still do OK.

I wanted to be like Nolan Ryan. I didn't want to be like Pete Gray.

I'll never be considered one of the all-time greats, maybe not even one of the all-time goods. But I'm one of the all-time survivors.

-- Jim Kaat

Pitching is ... the art of instilling fear.

I became a good pitcher when I stopped trying to make them miss the ball and started trying to make them hit it.

The only time I really try for a strikeout is when I'm in a jam. If the bases are loaded with none out, for example, then I'll go for the strikeout. But most of the time I try to throw to spots. I try to get them to pop up or ground out. On a strikeout I might have to throw five or six pitches, sometimes more if there are foul-offs. That tires me. So I just try to get outs. That's what counts: Outs. You win with outs, not strikeouts.

No, why should I?

I don't care what the situation was, how high the stakes were -- the bases could be loaded and the pennant riding on every pitch, it never bothered Whitey. He pitched his game. Cool. Crafty. Nerves of steel.

Develop your faculty of observation. Conserve your energy. Make contact with players, especially catchers and infielders, and listen to what they have to say. Work everlastingly for control. Keep studying the hitters for their weak and strong points. Keep talking with your catchers. Always pitch to the catcher and not the hitter. Don't beef at the umpire. Keep pitching with confidence and control of yourself as well as of the ball. Don't get it into your head the umpire is your worst enemy. Fury is as hard on you physically as emotionally.

Sometimes being a setup man is harder than being the closer.

Another reason was the pitching coach. I talked to a lot of people and they said he was pretty good. It's always good to have a good pitching coach, since I'm a pitcher.

That just shows how this league has gone to hell.

The way I look at it, Leo [Mazzone] could be the first pitching coach ever elected to the baseball Hall of Fame. The job is a lot more difficult today.

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