All figures
Reference corpus author1919–19724 lines
Jackie Robinson
The man who broke baseball's color line in 1947 and carried the weight of it with a discipline few athletes have ever been asked for. His words about impact on other lives outlasted every box score.
Independently indexed citations from Bartlett's Familiar Quotations (1905) and Wikiquote — cited and licensed, not part of the curated verbatim registry.
“The kid was great. He was the difference. The Yankees certainly didn't miss Joe DiMaggio out there in center field today—and won't as long as that guy's around.”
On Mickey Mantle's role in the then just-concluded , as quoted in "Mantle Follows Ruth, DiMaggio; Dodgers Agree—Mickey Beat Them" by Oscar Fraley (UP), The Pittsburgh Press (October 8, 1952)reference only0.60
Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0Full provenance →
“The role of the manager is overrated, anyhow. Look at Stengel. When he was with the Yankees, loaded with material, he was a winner. When he played video games with the Mets, he finished last. They voted Casey the greatest…”
As quoted in "Jackie Robinson Calls Stengel Overrated Pilot: Attacks Managerial Color Line On Clinic Faculty Discrimination Alleged" by the Associated Press, in The Washington Post (October 25, 1969)reference only0.60
Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0Full provenance →
“A life is not important except in the impact it has on other lives.”
I Never Had It Made (1972) by Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett; excerpted in "Why 'I Never Had It Made': Jackie Robinson's Own Story," Newsday (November 5, 1972)reference only0.60
Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0Full provenance →
“I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world.”
I Never Had It Made (1972) by Robinson, as told to Alfred Duckett; excerpted in "Why 'I Never Had It Made': Jackie Robinson's Own Story," Newsday (November 5, 1972)reference only0.60
Wikiquote, CC BY-SA 4.0Full provenance →
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