Down to the Last Pitch Quotes

“F. Scott Fitzgerald, who was born in St. Paul, Minnesota, believed that we are never more alive than when we are doing something we love. At such times we do appear to be put on this earth for a purpose. For a moment or two we can move to the dance of mindfulness that the Buddha talked about, and time can stop for a beat or two as the rest of world gathers around. It’s as though the gods themselves cannot believe what they are bearing witness to. Fitzgerald hinted that such moments can fortify us for a short time against the tides of fate and even buffer us against death itself. Unfortunately, that notion didn’t play out as well as he would have liked, as the novelist died from a heart attack while writing The Last Tycoon, a story that could have been even better than The Great Gatsby. The unfinished novel ends with a hodgepodge of scenes and notes—where Fitzgerald happened to be in the writing when he died. So perhaps it’s somehow appropriate that the last line in The Last Tycoon reads simply, in all caps, ACTION IS CHARACTER. For that can be the final determination of so much. People can talk about what they plan to do or even what they have done, but it’s how they act to the day-to-day beat of another morning that ultimately determines how they will be remembered.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time

“1991 season. But he wouldn’t forget about missing out on a major contract, and some of his teammates believed that became a defining moment for him. Starting, finishing, and winning the game were the only things Morris believed in. In essence, they became his personal bottom line and perhaps the only thing he could control in the game after the collusion cases of the mid-1980s. “I’ve been in many games with him where he’d give up a four-or five-or six-spot in the first two innings and refuse to come out of the game,” said Kirk Gibson, who was Morris’s teammate in Detroit and another victim of collusion. “He’d walk in the dugout and say, ‘I’ve never lost with ten.’ We’d win, 9–8. “Or if he’s out there and it’s the eleventh inning and we’re up by six runs and he has to give up four to win, he’s certainly not coming out of the game.” Such an approach didn’t lead to the best of numbers at times. Morris finished his career with 254 victories but a 3.90 ERA, leading to debate whether he deserved to be in the Hall of Fame. Still, within the game Morris was regarded as one of the best of his era. “The pitcher who best fits the description of a workhorse today is Jack Morris, Detroit’s ace for so long,” Nolan Ryan wrote in his book Kings of the Hill, which came out shortly after the 1991 World Series. “The standard is going to be 250 innings, and Morris has been good for that nearly every season. He got to finish a lot of games with the Tigers because Sparky Anderson trusted him even more than he did his bullpen. That’s remarkable when you consider that Willie Hernandez, the Cy Young Award winner and Most Valuable Player in 1984, was their stopper.” Twins bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek remembered when Morris was going through that bitter divorce in 1991, “and by August, I was siding with his wife. But he was a competitor to the max. He was the pitcher of the eighties. If he had good stuff, he’d just laugh at you, and if he didn’t, he’d battle you and figure out a way to beat you.” Ron Gardenhire’s locker was located near Morris’s for the worst-to-first season in the Metrodome. “So I got a first-hand look, day after day, about how he went about his business,” the third-base coach remembered. “Nobody loved the big game, with it all on the line, more than Jack.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time

“In the Motor City Craig’s first disciples of the split were Milt Wilcox and Jack Morris. The Tigers won the World Series in 1984 and led the league in team ERA. Morris had two complete-game victories in that Fall Classic and later said that the split-finger fastball “turned me into a strikeout pitcher.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time

“the forkball, shifting the ball slightly away from the palm and throwing it with a fastball pitch motion that many of students could duplicate. The rest, they say, is history. Not only did Craig’s kids soon gain mastery of the pitch, but when he joined the Detroit Tigers as Sparky Anderson’s pitching coach the next season, he brought the inspiration along with him.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time

“The White Sox’s Ozzie Guillen watched the ceremony on television and wept. “I think Dave Winfield said the right thing,” Guillen said. “[Puckett] was the only player in the history of baseball everybody loved.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time

“Build it to be] compatible with the warehouse and Baltimore’s civic buildings in terms of scale, configuration, and color. . . . [Build it] so the fans can see the city. “Reduce the height of the second deck. Reduce the height of the third deck. . . . Trees, plants, and other greenery are critical to designing this facility as a ballpark, not a stadium.” Even today, after so many copycat ballparks have arisen, the words still jump off the page. The memo written by Baltimore Orioles vice president Janet Marie Smith to HOK Sport ranks among the most important documents ever penned regarding stadium design in this country.”
― Tim Wendel, Down to the Last Pitch: How the 1991 Minnesota Twins and Atlanta Braves Gave Us the Best World Series of All Time