Mike Schmidt Quotations

One of the things that DARPA helps provide is funding to get a technology to a certain maturity level, ... That makes DARPA more important in the rolling out of technologies from the defense industry because the market now demands that maturity.

Pete's confession lacked one major thing in Bud's mind: remorse. I spoke to Bud later, and he told me he got the confession he had expected, but not the expression of genuine remorse he had hoped for.

Personally, I think the timing and manner of the book's release, given that it overshadowed the New York Hall of Fame news conference, sealed Pete's fate. For some reason, the commissioner wants to keep Pete on permanent hold.

I'm always there for Pete. Major League Baseball has created this Pete Rose purgatory, and that's where he is. I don't think he would mind if the commissioner said no, if the committee voted no.

Gold Gloves are nice to have people mention. They're basically saying you're a pretty good defensive player along with everything else. But I was about the offensive side.

I think the Baseball Hall of Fame should take a stronger position on a lot of issues,

I was in a room with two guys who could have been my sons. ... We laughed and talked and told stories, ... I'm leaving St. Petersburg with a fantastic feeling about the interview.

That was one of the most comfortable things about leaving baseball was to leave the environment. It's very much like a rock star existence - the nightlife, the hotels, lack of privacy... There's a lot of temptations out there. It was nice getting away from it.

Virtually every civilized society today holds sacred the right to peaceably bury their dead.

We've had teams from Greenwood that come here and play, and those people are going to eat.

You have to judge him against his peers in the game. He hasn't been banished from the game like Rose, and his accomplishments on the field stand for themselves.

I sort of ride the fence on that whole steroid era issue. I don't have a definite opinion like some of my fellow Hall of Famers. Some of the guys were very, very adamant about a person being associated with steroids: 'They'll never be in the Hall of Fame. If they are, I'll never come back.'

The whole Pete Rose issue, I believe, is dead for all practical reasons,

This is as early as I've ever seen it get this wild.

This is a big lifestyle change for me,

There's a 95-percent chance there's no one up there.

There's a lot of sad elements in that thing. It was sad that Pete bet on baseball. It was sad that Pete thought he could get away with it. It was sad the way he confessed, so to speak. The way the league perceived that he admitted to it was sad, and it's sad now the way baseball is handling it. It truly could be put to bed one way or the other, and I think we all sort of wish that would happen for all the parties.

There's a real possibility of getting buried up there. The mid layer is solid but the layer below that could break down to the ground and rip all the way out. There's a huge possibility for a big slide.

About a year after the Milwaukee meeting, I phoned Bud to ask what was holding up his decision on Pete's reinstatement. Bud confided that he didn't think Pete understood the gravity of his commitment.

It's sort of a study in the human nature of how things like this can happen and how turning a blind eye on the subject allowed baseball to recover in the late '90s and 2000 with the offensive explosion. And now, how the right steps have been taken by the players' association and the commissioner's office to totally cleanse the game.

I've got to tell you right out of the chute, Ryan Howard, to me, is very interested in my input in his hitting. To me that makes me really feel good. We've chatted over the years about hitting.

No missing people reports were called in (Friday) night. Since there are no confirmed bodies, we decided to not go any further because at this point, there's so much danger up there, we'd have a hard time doing anything safely.

I had more people come to me and say 'It was great to see a player of your caliber treat that honestly and not come out totally against the current players.

He told me that he scouted me at Ohio University, which surprised me. Pat's a fine guy. He called me a couple of times and really rolled out the red carpet.

I feel comfortable that any player from when I played through today is going to find that it's truthful and enlightening. I don't think I cross the line, but I go up to the line a little bit.

They read their sports pages, know their statistics and either root like hell or boo our butts off. I love it. Give me vocal fans, pro or con, over the tourist types who show up in Houston or Montreal and just sit there.

It isn't that hard to get RBI's when you're hitting home runs, you generally get a least one.

I could ask the Phillies to keep me on to add to my statistics, but my love for the game won't let me do that.

You're trying your damndest, you strike out and they boo you. I act like it doesn't bother me, like I don't hear anything the fans say, but the truth is I hear every word of it and it kills me.

Major League Baseball has created a Pete Rose purgatory, and that's where he is. And that's where he's always going to be. It's unfortunate that the commissioner's office has decided to allow that to be the reality. I don't think Pete would mind if they said 'No' to Pete. Pete wants them to go one way or the other and get him out of the void he's in.

Pete Rose is the most likable arrogant person I've ever met.

I need to be out earning. I can make more in two hours at a card show than I did [as a minor-league manager] all year.

I can't stand satisfaction. To me, greatness comes from that quest for perfection.

If you're associated with the Philadelphia media or town, you look for negatives. I don't know if there's something about their upbringing or they have too many hoagies, or too much cream cheese.

I'm 61 now, and I'm comfortable in my lifestyle... I don't yearn for the limelight on a regular basis. I get a kick out of it every so often. I go to Philly and go to a game, and they make a big deal about me. That's fun for a couple of days, and I can go back to my own private life.

But remember this: in the final analysis, you can believe in your dream, you can be taught, supported, motivated, and loved by others, but ultimately, your success depends on you. You must take responsibility for your body, your mind, and for your character.

Philadelphia is the only city, where you can experience the thrill of victory and the agony of reading about it the next day.

If you could equate the amount of time and effort put in mentally and physically into succeeding on the baseball field and measured it by the dirt on your uniform, mine would have been black.

Any time you think you have the game conquered, the game will turn around and punch you right in the nose.

I don't think I can get into my deep inner thoughts about hitting. It's like talking about religion.