Top 25 Shortstop Quotes

When I was growing up, the first thing I wanted to be was a cowboy. That lasted till I was about ten. Then I wanted to be a baseball player. Preferably shortstop for the New York Yankees.

Any time you play shortstop or center field, the majority of the baseballs are hit in the middle of the field.

There was a time when rival teams used a shift against me. They would put the second baseman on the shortstop’s side of the bag, move the shortstop into the hole to his right, and have the third baseman hug the foul line. The idea was to build an infield wall against a known right-handed pull hitter.

Carl Yastrzemski was the best all-around player. He could run, throw and hit. He had the ability to play a number of different positions. He signed as a shortstop. He could play the outfield, of course, and third base and first, too. He was a tremendous athlete. Mickey Mantle was unbelievable, too.

When the ball was hit, my first reaction as a shortstop was always go in the direction of the ball. You can’t do that at first base. You go too far in that direction, and it’s hard to scurry back and be ready to pick the throw.

You have more time to make the play at second base than shortstop. That’s why the game’s more quick.

Obviously, I’m a shortstop at heart. I want to continue to play shortstop.

It’s hard for a shortstop to play with a guy you don’t know in the middle of the season. If you know a guy early in spring training, you’re working with them.

I played Little League. I was a ‘pitcher.’ But we had a pitching machine, so I was just basically an ‘in-infield’ shortstop because all I got to do was field bloopers six feet from the plate. I couldn’t hit, so that was pretty much my entire job.

You have to have a great fielder at shortstop, and you’ve got to have a guy that has good range and good hands in center field.

If Albert Einstein was right, Cal Ripken should have been a CEO or politician rather than a shortstop, because Ripken led by example over and over… and over again.

Playing shortstop is 75 to 80 percent anticipation, knowing the hitter and the pitch being thrown.

I’m going to the All-Star Game as an Oriole and as a shortstop. It’s just always a blessing. I thank God.

My dad had been shortstop when he was in college, and you know, when you’re a kid, you want to be just like your dad.

I used to get made fun of in the minor leagues. I’d be 0 for 2, and then in my last at-bat I’d hit a chopper that wouldn’t even reach the shortstop, and I’d get a hit out of it. The guys would be all over me, but a hit’s a hit. I’ll take 3,000 of ’em.

I was a shortstop in softball, and a lot of times I had collisions with base runners coming in, so I definitely have scars.

I played baseball a little bit and ran some track. I was a catcher at one point and I was at shortstop.

Nobody ever won a pennant without a star shortstop.

I thank those people that thought I had lost the agility to play shortstop, because they gave me more motivation.

I’ve played third base for a couple years. I did well, and I thought I was an elite player at that position, but at the end of the day, I’ve been a shortstop my entire life.

I know I can be a way better player as a shortstop than I can at third.

I was a pitcher, shortstop and outfielder, and the Yankees tried to sign me out of high school as a first-round draft pick in 1981. I turned them down to go to college.

I have the greatest job in the world. Only one person can have it. You have shortstops on other teams – I’m not knocking other teams – but there’s only one shortstop on the Yankees.

I thought I was a pretty good shortstop, but I also wanted to play in the major leagues.

There’s so much attached to playing shortstop that you lose your concentration on hitting, unless you’re a natural hitter. There’s so much to think about in the field, you don’t have time to think about what you did at the plate last time. ‘How did he get me out?’