75 Casey Stengel Quotes From The Influential Baseball Manager

Merlyn Mathews
Dec 12, 2023 By Merlyn Mathews
Originally Published on Feb 23, 2021
Edited by Monisha Kochhar
Baseball player ready to throw a ball
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Age: 0-99
Read time: 8.4 Min

Casey Stengel (30 July 1891-29 September 1975) was famously known by name of Carles Dillon Stengel.

Throughout his five decades career, the Yankees have won 27 world series titles and 40 American League pennants. A former player known by Number 37, in 1932, he became a coach for the Yankees Baseball team and then a team manager before retiring in 1966.  

Stengel is known for his showmanship and misuse of the English language and sayings like Stengelese and was inducted into the baseball hall of fame in 1966. Stengel holds the record for the most world series wins by a manager, 37, and most series games managed, 63.

Stengel also popularized platooning. In this article, we will be looking at some of the best and inspirational Casey Stengel quotes. If you like this article, visit Bob Uecker quotes and Satchel Paige quotes.

Casey Stengel Quotes To Inspire

Stengel often performed clubhouse routines and practical jokes. Here are some Casey Stengel quotes to inspire you every day.

Baseball player ready to shot

1."You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living."

-Casey Stengel

2."There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them."

-Casey Stengel

3."Never make predictions, especially about the future."

-Casey Stengel

4."The trick is growing up without growing old."

-Casey Stengel

5."Sometimes it's easier to understand things than it is to figure them out."

-Casey Stengel

6."When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you're older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out."

-Casey Stengel

7."They say it can't be done, but sometimes that doesn't always work."

-Casey Stengel

8."Without losers where would the winners be?"

-Casey Stengel

9."I made up my mind, but I made it up both ways."

-Casey Stengel

10."Left handers have more enthusiasm for life. They sleep on the wrong side of the bed, and their head gets more stagnant on that side."

-Casey Stengel

11."Ability is the art of getting credit for all the home runs somebody else hits."

-Casey Stengel

12."If we are going to win the pennant, we've got to start thinking we're not as good as we think we are."

-Casey Stengel

13."I feel greatly honoured to have a ballpark named after me, especially since I've been thrown out of so many."

-Casey Stengel

14."You make your own luck. Some people have had bad luck all their lives."

-Casey Stengel

15."I couldn't have done it without my players."

-Casey Stengel

16."You can get into the greatest business in the world because you can manufacture money by yourself on the field."

-Casey Stengel

17."If you walk backwards, you'll find out you can go forwards and people won't know if you're coming or going."

-Casey Stengel  

18."You can't get into the hall of fame unless you limp."

-Casey Stengel

19."Well that's baseball. Rags to riches one day and riches to rags the next. But I've been in it 36 years and I'm used to it."

-Casey Stengel

20."They say some of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones who drink milkshakes don't win many ball games."

-Casey Stengel

21."There are three kinds of people: Those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who ask, what happened."

-Casey Stengel

22."Once someone gave me a picture and I wrote 'Do good in school.' I looked up the guy was 78 years old."

-Casey Stengel

23."If you're so smart, let us see you get out of the Army."

-Casey Stengel

Famous Casey Stengel Quotes

Casey Stengel was a great collector of memorabilia. He had a dream of developing a museum but it was not executed. Here are famous Casey Stengel quotes, including Casey Stengel Mets quotes, based on his experience of five decades in the baseball game.

24."The Yankees don't pay me to win every day, just two out of three."

-Casey Stengel

25."Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose'em I never knew existed before."

-Casey Stengel

26."Can't anybody here play this game?"

-Casey Stengel

27."Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa."

-Casey Stengel

28."Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It's staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in."

-Casey Stengel    

29."As great as other men were on the ball club, there comes a time when you get a weakness and it might be physical."

-Casey Stengel

30."The secret of successful managing is to keep five guys who hate you away from the four guys you haven't made up their minds."

-Casey Stengel

31."Alright everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height."

-Casey Stengel

32."The key of a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided."

-Casey Stengel

33."Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story."

-Casey Stengel

34."I got players with bad watches - they can't tell midnight from noon."

-Casey Stengel

35."There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, you can lose, or it can rain."

-Casey Stengel

36."Managing is getting paid for home runs that somebody else hits."

-Casey Stengel

37."I'm a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice."

-Casey Stengel

38."Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they're successful."

-Casey Stengel

39."You gotta learn that if you don't get it by midnight, chances are you ain't gonna get it, and if you do, it ain't worth it."

-Casey Stengel

40."Baseball is very big at the present time. This makes me think baseball will live longer than Casey Stengel or anybody else."

-Casey Stengel

41."The only thing worse than Mets is a Mets Doubleheader."

-Casey Stengel

42."Never wear a backward baseball cap to an interview unless applying for the job of an umpire."

-Casey Stengel

43."I've got one who can throw but can't catch, and one that can catch but can't throw, and one who can hit harder but can't do either."

-Casey Stengel

44."All that analysis is well and good, but what I need right now is a left-handed batter who can hit the ball over the shortstop's head."

-Casey Stengel

45."I once asked what it takes to be a great manager...my response? Great players."

-Casey Stengel

46."You have to draft a catcher, because if you don't have one, the pitch will roll all way back to the screen."

-Casey Stengel

47."Do you know how good you have to be to strike out 2000 times?"

-Casey Stengel

48."Play every game as if your job depended on it. It just might."

-Casey Stengel

49."The best ballplayer's the one who doesn't think he made good. He keeps trying to convince you."

-Casey Stengel

50."He [Gil Hodges] fields better on one leg than anybody else I got on two."

-Casey Stengel

51."He [Mickey Mantle] has it in his body to be great."

-Casey Stengel

52."I was a left-handed dentist who made people cry."

-Casey Stengel

53."Wake up muscles we're in New York."

-Casey Stengel

54."You have to have a catcher because if you don't, likely to have a lot of passed balls."

-Casey Stengel

55."When you're losing, everyone commences to play stupid."

-Casey Stengel

56."The trouble with women umpires is that I couldn't argue with one. I'd put my arms around her and give her a little kiss."

-Casey Stengel

57."They examined all my organs. Some of them are quite remarkable and others are not so good. A lot of museums are bidding for them."

-Casey Stengel

58."I became a major league manager in several cities and was discharged because there was no question I had to leave."

-Casey Stengel

59."Jerry Lumpe looks like the best hitter in the world until you put him in a lineup."

-Casey Stengel

60."Nobody knows this but one of us has just been traded to Kansas City."

-Casey Stengel

61."Mr. that boy couldn't hit the ground if he fell out of an airplane."

-Casey Stengel

62."What do you think, I was born at 60?"

-Casey Stengel

63."Most ball games are lost, not won."

-Casey Stengel

64."Don't cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself."

-Casey Stengel

65."Son, we'd like to keep you around this season but we're going to try and win a pennant."

-Casey Stengel

66."Two Hundred million Americans, and there ain't two good catchers among' em."

-Casey Stengel

67."Bobby brown reminds me of a fellow who's been hitting for 12 years and fielding one."

-Casey Stengel

68."If this keeps up, I'm about to manage until I'm hundred."

-Casey Stengel

Quotes About Casey Stengel

Quotes about Casey Stengel from other fans and followers.

69."He knew his baseball. He only made it look like he was fooling around. He knew every move that was ever invented and some that we haven't even caught on to yet."

-Sparky Anderson

70."I never saw a man who juggled his lineup so much who played so many hunches so successfully."

-Connie Mack

71."I'm probably the only guy who worked for Casey Stengel before and after he was a genius."

-Warren Spahn

72."It's fashionable to say that successful people, in any field, could have been whatever they wanted, but you could not picture Casey Stengel being anything else but what he was, the greatest showman baseball ever knew."

-Mickey Herskowitz

73."He can talk all day and all night, on any kind of track wet or dry."

-John Lardner

74."If I own Casey Stengel's oil wells, I wouldn't finish my sentences either."

-Birdie Tebbetts

75."They voted Casey the greatest living manager. That's a joke. The only thing a manager has to do is relate to the players. Who did Casey ever relate to? Nobody but himself."

-Jackie Robinson  

Here at Kidadl, we have carefully created lots of interesting family-friendly quotesfor everyone to enjoy!  If you liked our suggestions for Casey Stengel quotes then why not take a look at inspirational baseball quotes,  or Tim Tebow quotes.

Second Image Editorial credit: Keeton Gale / Shutterstock.com

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Written by Merlyn Mathews

Bachelor of Arts specializing in English, Masters of English Literature

Merlyn Mathews picture

Merlyn MathewsBachelor of Arts specializing in English, Masters of English Literature

As a multilingual content writer, Merlyn's command over multiple languages and her strong academic background in English enhance her writing capabilities. She holds a Bachelor's degree in English from Christ University and a Master's degree in English from the University of Leeds.Her professional journey includes internships at The Lagoon School and The Guardian Newspaper, both in Nigeria, enriching her experience and lending depth to her understanding of diverse work environments. Additionally, her volunteer work with Oxfam and Handout Foundation reflects her dedication to social causes.

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