When you think summer, you think baseball. And when you think famous sports quotes and sayings, you also think baseball. Perhaps it’s because it’s America’s national pasttime.

Perhaps it’s because of the great characters that have graced the game. Whatever the reason, summer is the season for baseball, so here are 10 famous baseball quotes/sayings that you can use this summer on your non-baseball friends to highlight your intellect of the game.

1. “Every day is a new opportunity. You can build on yesterday’s success or put its failures behind and start over again. That’s the way life is, with a new game every day, and that’s the way baseball is.”
— Bob Feller

Use this quote if your friend is a fan of the Washington Nationals. Then again, maybe not.

2. “Baseball is almost the only orderly thing in a very unorderly world. If you get three strikes, even the best lawyer in the world can't get you off.”
— Bill Veeck

Use this quote to explain the purity of baseball.

3. “Baseball is the only field of endeavor where a man can succeed three times out of 10 and be considered a good performer.”
— Ted Williams

Use this quote, especially to the younger generation, to explain that failure is part of life and builds character.

4. “Baseball is like church. Many attend, but few understand.”
— Wes Westrum

Use this quote to throw your friends a curveball.

5. “I actually realized that I was somebody important because I caught the attention of 60,000 people, plus the whole world watching a guy that if you reverse time back 15 years ago, I was sitting under a mango tree without 50 cents to pay for a bus.”
— Pedro Martinez

Use this quote to explain to your friends what separates the great baseball players from the good baseball players.

6. “Baseball is a ballet without music. Drama without words.”
— Ernie Harwell

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Use this quote if any of your friends start whining ‘the game is too slow’ and tell them to just shut up and pay attention.

7. “Why does everybody stand up and sing ‘Take Me Out to the Ballgame’ when they're already there?”
— Larry Anderson

Use this quote to explain that the origins of the seventh inning stretch date back to the late 1880s when a Manhattan College coach, noticing restless fans on a hot, muggy day, encouraged them to stand up and unwind during the seventh inning. Then tell your friends that in baseball you don’t mess with tradition — and make them sing.

8. “Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.”
— Casey Stengel

You’re on your own explaining any Casey Stengel quote.

9. “I've come to the conclusion that the two most important things in life are good friends and a good bullpen.”
— Bob Lemon

Use this quote on your Mets friends if they blow up again this September or your Cubs friends if they are typical C-U-B-S (Completely Useless By September).

10. “It ain’t over, til it’s over.”
— Yogi Berra

Use this quote on your friends who want to leave early even if the game appears to be at hand.

Joe Connor is a freelance writer and author of the online MLB ballpark tour guide, “A Fan’s Guide To The Ultimate Ballpark Tour: Fully Loaded!” which is available for purchase exclusively at his Web sites: www.modernerabaseball.com and www.mrsportstravel.com

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