Best One-Liner Advice You've Ever Received

Had a chance to hear Jeff Kent speak a couple of weeks ago, as he said to the team, "The money lies in the RBI's" ....

I can only he assume he was not talking to the pitchers

Ya gotta short bat,stand close to the plate.

Anonymous

"It ain't the arrow, it's the Indian."

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

Might be the worst of one liners (from the old-timers to the youngsters!)

...When I played ... or
...This is the way I did it.... or
...This is the way it used to be done!

Regards
Bear

High School teammate:
Swing hard, don't miss

"If you ever do that again, I'll kick your a$$"

At a Jr. Legion game, a scout told my son:
" You never know who's watching."

Then put him in the database.

"You cannot measure the heart of a champion."

2552dad - AMAZINGLY appropriate - as many times as I had told my son that - he has heard it countless times since, by people who's opinion count far more than mine [including college coaches]. whenever he hears that now, if I am present - he just smiles and shakes his head,as if "Yeah, I know, Dad - you told me that years ago" the best part is that he believes it and acts it.

How about..."Play every game like it is your last!"

I also had my legendary HS Coach give me a good one as a young impressionable freshman. (Situation: Can of corn hit into the outfield and the centerfielder, camped, caught it without fanfair.) "They was a GREAT catch lil' A. Do you know what makes something a GREAT catch? Any ball that doesn't hit the ground is a GREAT catch."

Quote from former college Head Coach to me>Best Advice fo sho!

"Your only as good as your last at bat"

BTW, Randy Warrick would really always smile at me when he said it

This has served me well through the years at the old ballpark...can't really remember who uttered it...

"It's around the corner, don't do what I did...the door with the picture of the person wearing the dress is for the ladies, the other one is for us guys".

Now that's some sound advice.

Joe Shipley, who pitched in AAA ball for the White Sox organization in the '60's with the Indianapolis Indians...

He coached the pitchers with the Atlanta Braves minor leaguers in the Gulf Coast League in 1966-1967.

In response to some people in the stands criticizing all of the minor leaguers (Earl Williams was one of them (my teammate, that is) and he became the NL Rookie of the Year in 1971)...

He looked at the bunch of them and said:

"Better to be a has-been than a never-was"...

How true.

Appropriate for the player who outworks everybody else on the team:

"Don't ever let anybody embarrass the work ethic out of you."

you don't need ability to hustle

attitude is everything

Revived from the archives...

- "Hit and they have to find a place for you"
- "You should be playing for today AND tomorrow"
- "Do you know what the most important play of the game is? The next play"

"Get over yourself. There's a billion people in China who don't care that you just hit a home run."

BaseballByTheYard

Life... 10% whats happens to you 90% how you deal with it!

If your not having fun it's your own d*** fault!

Don't get mad, get better! GED10DaD

One great line was when I was watching my son play another team. The other team had bases loaded, two outs, 3-2 count and were down by two in the bottom of the seventh.

Classic situation. The third base coach yells out,"Don't worry about it. You have been in this situation a thousand times in your back yard."

When I was a sophomore in HS we were playing colt league in the summer. First day the coach tells me to put on the gear. I said I have never caught before. He said,"You're a ball player, aren't you?"

"If it was easy I'd get a monkey and pay him two bananas. Now get to work." - My dad

With my face buried in the carpet with my arm twisted behind my back until it hurt - "Never F with a WWII Marine veteran trained in hand to hand combat" - My dad when I was sixteen after I took a swipe at him

"You may have it all going for you, but other than family and friends no one would care if you disappeared off the face of the earth. Get over yourself." - During college from a girlfriend's father who thought I was a little full of myself

"You don't lose when you fall down. You lose when you choose not to get up." - tee shirt I bought at the mall

"The walls weren't put there to keep you out. They were out there to see how badly you want it." - Randy Pausch

I think we need more role models like the Greatest Generation. Randy Pausch tells a story about freaking out over grad school finals. His mother said, "Just think at the same age your father was in a foxhole fighting the Germans." How's that for perspective?

BBDad, thanks for reviving this thread.

Best advice given to my son (a catcher): Catch the ball.

Best advice given to me (by my grandfather): Life is what you make of it.

The ball won't hurt if you catch it.

When I was in high school we had runners and 1st & 2nd with 2 outs and a 0-2 count. Our pitcher promptly walks the guy on the next 4 pitchers. Head coach comes out and we all go to the mound. The head coach looks at the pitcher and says, "There are 3 million chinaman that don't give a **** if you give up a home run. Pipe this next pitch and stop trying to nibble."

Don't know if it was the best advice because after the next pitch we were down by 4 runs but it was one of the funnier moments I had experienced at that time.

A player on the team I was coaching got called out on a bad strike three call. He was mad so our coach walked up to him and asked him how not to get call out on a bad 3rd strike....Hit the one of the first two strikes he throws you..

The advice I've always given kids at crunch time coaching baseball, softball and basketball was .... No one here signed up to play to win games by mercy. You signed up to play becuase it's exciting to play in close games. Now let's go have some fun.

quote:

Originally posted by twotex:
BBDad, thanks for reviving this thread.

No problem, the old posts are some of the best...They bring many things into prospective. You just have to search around as most would say. I am sure i will find a few more to bring back to the top

Well a lot of my contributions would be things I experienced during my stint in the military.

"Remember, when you are knee deep in mud, shrapnel flying, the snap of AK rounds flying, that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder."

"If it's stupid and it works, it ain't stupid."

I did have a couple of coaches who dropped some pretty "enlightening" pearls of wisdom on my in my formative years...

Bases loaded, 2 outs, 2-0 count, tying run on second base. Coach nods at me to relieve the guy on the mound. As I walk out to the mound and right before I start warming up..Coach gives me a confidence inspiring speech.. "Hey kid...don't make me look bad. If you get this out, I'm a genius for bringing you in and you might even get talked to by the Seniors. If you make me look bad, you might look at a future in grounds keeping..because the closest you'll get to the mound is fixing it up after games."

Second game of a Legion double header. I pitched most of the first and was most of the way through the second game. It was a typical SC day with 1000% humidity. I walk two straight batters. Coach calls time and walks out. This is our conversation.
Coach- "Looks like you're tired."
Me - I just nodded a bit
Coach - "I'm tired too. How about you get this last out and we'll talk about getting someone else out here to pitch. If you are too tired to get that done, you can get plenty of rest at your house the rest of the Summer."

My Dad had his moments too. I got cut from the "A" team (rec ball) when I was 9. I was a fat kid, that eventually got tall. I was upset at not making it. My Dad told me "Well you have two choices. You can cry about it, go home watch TV and eat something, or you can get mad about it and work you butt off and make it next year."


And probably the best advice I ever got from a coach. I was pitching to a draft prospect when I was a SO in HS. Scouts had actually shown up to watch this guy. I hung a curve ball to him and he hit it about 600 ft.........foul. Coach motions to the Ump for time, walks out, motions for the catcher to come out to the mound.

"Hey you two...whatever that last pitch was? Don't throw it again."

Best advice given to sulking player after a K or an error - "baseball ain't about the last play, it's about the next one"

Dont make excuses make the play.

I heard a wise parent say:
"Hard work beats talent when talent doesnt' work hard, but when talent works hard it beats everything."

When my son was about six my dad wanted to teach him how to golf and took him to the driving range. After a few futile swipes at the ball, son turns to grandpa and says very matter-of-factly 'It's not as easy as it looks'.

I've used the line many times over the years after a tough inning or a poor at-bat....gets a smile everytime....

"A bad plan is better than having no plan at all."

Advice from an old coach I respected in reference to me having second thoughts on a pitching rotation and me telling him why I had concerns.

"Get out of bed and take the job, you might meet a girl you'll marry some day"

What my dad told me when I was 16 years old at 6:00am sleeping when a grocery store called wanting to hire me on a Saturday morning. I met my wife there and we celebrated our 20th anniversary this year.

I am still deciding if both pieces of advise were the "Best" or "Worst" pieces of advise I ever received.

I was given a piece of advice similar to shortnquicks. An older lady told me when I was single to never turn down a date. She said you might not like him that much, but you might like a fried of his.

And you guessed it, I met my husband when I was on a date with a friend of his. And we are still friends with my former boyfriend who inadvertently made the match.

Stop whining

Way back mid 1960's as a Freshman i got cut from the baseball team. I came home and was moaning and groaning. Dad was reading the paper and asked what was going on. I told him I got cut( of course with some added editorial comment) He told me I had to work harder and resumed reading the paper.

upon sending son off to College to play baseball he was told the following two golden rules;

- Don't take a life.
- Don't make a life!

Always....under promise and over deliver!

quote:

Originally posted by Prime9:
upon sending son off to College to play baseball he was told the following two golden rules;

- Don't take a life.
- Don't make a life!

NICE

quote:

Originally posted by twotex:
I was given a piece of advice similar to shortnquicks. An older lady told me when I was single to never turn down a date. She said you might not like him that much, but you might like a fried of his.

And you guessed it, I met my husband when I was on a date with a friend of his. And we are still friends with my former boyfriend who inadvertently made the match.

My dad was BMOC. He dumped a hot looking, but demanding (think female dog) woman on his nerdy friend who knew more about slide rulers then women. The couple recently celebrated their sixtieth anniversary. In high school I dated their daughter. The daughter suffered from the same personality trait.