- I drink beer, I swear, but I keep my hair short, so I guess that makes me an All-American boy.
- That was nice, but it's only the first step. I want to pitch on a Mets pennant winner and I want to pitch the first game in the World Series. I want to change things around here. The Mets have been a joke long enough. It's time to start winning, to change the attitude, to move on to better things. I don't want the Mets to be laughed at anymore. [commenting on being selected to the All-Star team in 1967]
- My job isn't to strike guys out, it's to get them out - sometimes by striking them out.
- To an early '70s fan who noted his accomplishments: "Yeah, but you forgot one thing: I'm the only pitcher in the history of the Mets who's lost a ball game in the World Series."
- In baseball, my theory is to strive for consistency, not to worry about the numbers. If you dwell on statistics you get shortsighted; if you aim for consistency, the numbers will be there at the end.
- I would like to be a great artist. I would quit pitching if I could paint like Monet or Rousseau. But I can't. What I can do is pitch, and I can do that very well.
- If you don't think baseball is a big deal, don't do it. But if you do, do it right.
- I don't like 10:30 AM starting times. I'm not fully awake until the fifth or sixth inning. [after starting and winning the first game of a doubleheader on July 4, 1969 that started at 10:30 AM]
- It takes 20 victories for people to recognize you as a great pitcher.
- It was within my grasp. I don't think I've ever had a more disappointing moment in baseball. [on how he felt after his bid for a perfect game had been broken up]
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