Jerome Holtzman Quotations

Years later, I was in Baltimore one day and I talked to (then-manager) Johnny Oates. He said, 'You changed the game. You created the ninth-inning pitcher.' I said, 'It was the managers who did it. They started holding back their best relief pitchers to get saves.'

You're missing someone who should be high on the list. Al Lopez knew pitching. He knew when a guy was losing it. He didn't take the pitcher out after he lost the lead; he took him out before he lost it. He was a catcher and knew the game. He's first on my list.

a shortstop with some, but certainly not overwhelming promise.

I looked into it and in nine or 10 of his wins, he gave up the tying run but got the win,

It all has to with his being a competitor. I'm sure a lot of guys could have gone on (as long) but they didn't have the fire in their belly.

always thinking ahead two or three innings ahead. Whitey Herzog was a terrific baseball mind, and nobody's better than Bobby Cox.

Losing is the great American sin.

He was a great manager. He never missed a pitch. He had been a catcher, and one of the things he was very good at was that he knew when a pitcher was losing his stuff. He could anticipate so well. He just wouldn't wait until he was clobbered.