"Babe Ruth never had to contend with anything like that when he was establishing his record." Source: Baseball As I Have Known It (Fred Lieb)

"Can I smoke now without someone taking my picture?"

"Does Pete (Rose) hustle? Before the All-Star game he came into the clubhouse and took off his shoes and they ran another mile without him."

"Guessing what the pitcher is going to throw is eighty percent of being a successful hitter. The other twenty percent is just execution." Source: 714 and Beyond (Jerry Brondfield)

"I can't recall a day this year or last when I did not hear the name of Babe Ruth." Source: Babe: The Legend Comes to Life (Robert W. Creamer)

"I don't see pitches down the middle anymore - not even in batting practice."

"I don't want them to forget (Babe) Ruth, I just want them to remember me!"

"I looked for the same pitch my whole career, a breaking ball. All of the time. I never worried about the fastball. They couldn't throw it past me, none of them."

"I'm hoping someday that some kid, black or white, will hit more home runs than myself. Whoever it is, I'd be pulling for him."

"In baseball, there is something electrifying about the big leagues. I had read so much about (Stan) Musial, (Ted) Williams and (Jackie) Robinson. I had put those guys on a pedestal. They were something special. I really thought they put their pants on different, rather than one leg at a time."

"I never smile when I have a bat in my hands. That's when you've got to be serious. When I get out on the field, nothing's a joke to me. I don't feel like I should walk around with a smile on my face." Source: Milwaukee Journal (July 31, 1956)

"Last year, I was sort of a kid and I was a little scared, I ain't scared any more." Source: The Sporting News (May 4, 1955)

"On the field, blacks have been able to be super giants. But, once our playing days are over, this is the end of it and we go back to the back of the bus again." Source: Hammerin' Hank (Dan Schlossberg)

"Roger Maris lost his hair the season he hit sixty-one, I still have all my hair, but when it's over, I'm going home to Mobile and fish for a long time."

"The pitcher has got only a ball. I've got a bat. So the percentage in weapons is in my favor and I let the fellow with the ball do the fretting."

"Yogi (Berra), I came up here to hit, not to read." 1958 World Series answer to Berra after being told to turn his bat around so he could 'read' the label and not break the bat.

"You can only milk a cow so long, then you're left holding the pail." 1976 Retirement

"You got to play a hundred and fifty games a year, so pick your spots. You can miss two games a month; so pick the days you're gonna be hurt, or you're gonna rest or you're gonna have a drink or two. The rest of the time, be on that field."

"(Hank) Aaron's excellence was not expelled in blinding bursts of energy, but rather played out, patiently and inexorably, over a whole generation." Lonnie Wheeler in I Had A Hammer

"As far as I'm concerned, (Hank) Aaron is the best ball player of my era. He is to baseball of the last fifteen years what Joe DiMaggio was before him. He's never received the credit he's due." - Mickey Mantle

"Henry Aaron is simply smarter than all the pitchers. He deceives pitchers. One of his secrets is his slow manner, he puts pitchers to sleep." - Ernie Johnson

"I don't know where Hank Aaron will break (Babe) Ruth's record but I can tell you one thing - ten years from the day he hits it three million people will say they were there. - Eddie Mathews

"I'm mad at Hank (Aaron) for deciding to play one more season. I threw him his last home run and thought I'd be remembered forever. Now, I'll have to throw him another." - Bill 'Spaceman' Lee

"I think it's incredible because there were guys like (Willie) Mays and (Mickey) Mantle and Henry Aaron who were great players for ten years. I only had four or five good years." - Sandy Koufax

"More than anyone else, he's (Hank Aaron) made me wish I wasn't a manager." - Walter Alston

"My boy has a chance to do it. He takes care of himself and nothing comes in front of baseball for Henry (Aaron). Nothing. On days when he is feeling good, it's just too bad for the pitchers." - Estella Aaron (Aaron's Mother)

"Now they talk on the radio about the record set by (Babe) Ruth, and (Joe) DiMaggio and Henry Aaron. But they rarely mention mine. Do you know what I have to show for the sixty-one home runs? Nothing, exactly nothing." - Roger Maris

"(Babe Ruth) never played a night game, he never hit against fireball relief pitching, he never traveled cross-country for a night game and played a day game the next day, he never performed before millions of television viewers, he never had to run on artificial turf. It is the changes in the game, the modern factors that have made the game more difficult, that bring Babe (Ruth) in here as number three, behind (Willie) Mays and Hank (Aaron). His feats were heroic. So were theirs. They simply did them under tougher conditions." - Maury Allen

"Trying to throw a fastball by Henry Aaron is like trying to sneak a sunrise past a rooster." -Curt Simmons

"When Henry (Aaron) came up, I heard fans yell, 'Hit that nigger. Hit that nigger.' Henry hit the ball up against the clock. The next time he came up, the said 'Walk him, walk him." - Herb Aaron (Aaron's Father)