John McGraw on Babe Ruth

“That's the kind of hitter for me. The man who can lean against the ball and send it on a ride when there are men ahead of him is the only batter worth thinking about in baseball. There are many players with big batting averages who never advance a runner. Give me the man who meets the ball when a hit will do the most good. He will be a valuable man, no matter what the averages tell.”

“Delahanty was different. He could hit a baseball as hard as any man I have ever seen, but even when taking a terrific smash at a ball, he could drive it into right or left, as the case demanded. I have never seen a hard hitter who could place his drives as Del could. Babe Ruth is a mighty walloper, but Ruth has no idea whether he is going to drive a ball to right, center or left. He merely takes the old wallop and lets nature do the rest. Most of the present-day sluggers belong to that type. In fact, I don't know of one who can combine both systems—who can tear into a ball and place it at the same time.”

“My choice of an all-time, all-star team? I'll tell you: Honus Wagner, shortstop and lead-off man, Ty Cobb in center, Willie Keeler in right field, Babe Ruth in left, batting fourth, Lou Gehrig behind him and at first, Rogers Hornsby at second, Jimmy Collins at third, Roger Bresnahan catching and Christy Mathewson and Walter Johnson pitching. What a team of sweet hitting, sweet fielding, sweet pitching players that would be. I'd include Ruth as a drawing card and a home run hitter, rather than as a player. But nothing like that will ever happen in baseball, for every manager will always have one or two weak spots.”