Here are some memorable quotes from former Major League Baseball manager and Perrysburg native Jim Leyland, who is entering the Baseball Hall of Fame on Sunday.
■ On Perrysburg: “It’s a special place. It’s where I was born and raised, and you never forget that. I’m very proud to be from northwest Ohio, and I’m very proud to be from Perrysburg.”
■ On momentum in baseball: “Momentum is your next day’s pitcher.”
■ On effort: “You’re not always going to be at your best, but it better be the best you’ve got that day.”
■ On expectations for older players: “We need our veterans to set an example, like being the first ones there. A veteran is entitled to a bigger paycheck, but not a special set of rules.”
■ One of his best stories: “I knew we were in for a long season when we lined up for the national anthem on opening day and one of my players said, ‘Every time I hear that song I have a bad game.’”
■ On the TV program Dancing with the Stars : “When I grew up, you held someone. You didn’t dance 30 feet away from each other and do all that crazy stuff."
■ On being honest with players: “Mislead a player, you lose him forever. Tell him the truth, you lose him for 24 hours.”
■ Double trouble: “Machado leads the league in doubles. I’m second in doubles — double vodkas, double scotches.”
■ On smoking: “Smokers out there, you know what I’m talking about. That moment, after you’ve had a huge meal, say at Thanksgiving, when you step outside in the cold, light up a cigarette, and take a deep inhale, that’s about the best moment in the world, you know? All the smokers out there, you know that feeling. Sometimes, smoking is fantastic.”
■ After the Tigers did not retain Placido Polanco: “He’s like an old shoe. You know, sometimes you wanna go out and get some shiny new shoes, but you’re not gonna have anything more comfortable than that old shoe, you know?”
■ When asked about retiring after his 1997 World Series title with the Florida Marlins: “My wife doesn’t like me that much. I can’t retire.”
■ More smoking: “It’s not good when you light up two Marlboros at the same time at 3 a.m., washing it down with a glass of chocolate milk. You know you have a lot on your mind when you do that."
■ On Gene Lamont leaving his Pittsburgh Pirates staff: “It’s like watching your mother-in-law drive over the cliff in your new Cadillac.”
■ On clubhouse chemistry: “Take all that clubhouse [stuff] and all that, throw it out the window. Every writer in the country has been writing about that [nonsense] for years. Chemistry don’t mean [anything]. He’s up here because he’s good. That don’t mean [stuff]. They got good chemistry because their team is improved, they got a real good team, they got guys knocking in runs, they got a catcher hitting .336, they got a phenom pitcher they just brought up. That’s why they’re happy.”
■ On the 1986 Mets, which went 17-1 against the Pirates that season: “The Mets couldn’t be that [bleeping] good. We beat them once.”
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