Cubs Week in Quotations

A few years back, TCR brought you "Cubs Week in Quotations"...we know you missed it.

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Before we get down to business, time to honor our past
"It's the best. This is the epitome of American life to be able to have this honor bestowed upon me; think about that. Just me. And when I'm no longer here, I'll still be here. It's amazing. This is amazing to me."
-Ernie Banks

"It's a miracle that I made it from there to here. When I had my number retired, I thought it was the greatest honor because it was the first number ever retired by this franchise. It will still be there 100 years from now, and that's how I feel about this statue. I know it'll be here 100 years from now. It's a miracle. But it is proof that if you find satisfaction in your life, miracles can happen."
-Ernie Banks

"What apostrophe?"
- Sculptor Lou Cella responding to his grammatical error on the Ernie Banks statue

Maybe urinating on your hands affects your memory
"I timed it perfectly, I jumped perfectly. I'm almost 100 percent that I had a clean shot to catch the ball. All of a sudden, there's a hand on my glove."
- Moises Alou after Game 6 in 2003

"Everywhere I play, even now, people still yell, 'Bartman! Bartman!' I feel really bad for the kid. You know what the funny thing is? I wouldn't have caught it, anyway."
- Moises Alou, over four years later

"What was it, four or five years ago? You have to let it go. The best team won. The Marlins were the best team. They beat us and then they beat the Yankees. That's the bottom line. We didn't play good enough to win. We were winning [Game 6], but that was just a foul ball, and we couldn't get the guy out after that, or the next guy or the next guy. They scored three or four runs after that foul ball."
- Aramis Ramirez

It's a Fuking party!
"To be able to be received very well from the somewhat harsh fans that I've heard about, it was a very good day for me. But, again, we lost the game. I wish we could have won."
-Kosuke Fukudome after his Opening Day heroics

"I can't say it's shocking. That's a great way to start the season, a great first day, so that was very impressive. You can see in batting practice he has some power. He has a great swing, great balance.
- Derrek Lee

"He's a special player offensively and, with that [catch] we saw, defensively. When that ball was first hit, I thought it was in the gap for sure. I took a deep route just to try to hold [Carlos Lee] to a double, and next thing you know he's reaching out and making a good play."
- Reed Johnson

For $18MM a year, can you figure out how to drink water when you pitch?
"It's good. I have to take care of myself and do the right things to not let this thing happen again. I think in the last inning it was worse."
- Carlos Zambrano

"He's fine. His potassium level was a little low. I think that was the problem."
- Lou Piniella on Zambrano's cramping problems.

And the solution...
"Drink water."
- Carlos Zambrano

The true reason we've been cursed...
"Yosh Kawano has dedicated his life to the Chicago Cubs and we salute his 65 years of devotion to this franchise. While he will not be with us on a daily basis, he will always be a member of the Cubs family and we look forward to honoring him later this season."
- Jim Hendry

The Tao of lineups
“Well, look, ‘patience’…where did Soriano hit last year? He hit in the No. 1 hole. Where did he hit most of the spring? In the one-hole. Right? So he’s back to the one-hole. I don’t know what makes things so complicated or such changing. I mean, I am not going to be making excuses or giving explanations why I want to change the lineup from time to time. Every time I make a lineup change, I’m not going to sit here and be making explanations for it.

“I mean, that’s what I get paid to do and that’s what I’m going to do.”
- Lou Piniella

"No, but I'm going to ask that you all call me before you write your articles. And I'll give you all some pointers, and we're even."

"I've never really had all this many questions about lineups. I think you all fantasize about lineups at night. I really do. It's the damndest thing I've ever seen."
- Lou Piniella

You're good enough, you're smart enough, and gosh darnit, people like you (Except Cubs fans)
"I felt good. I felt prepared going into today, both physically and mentally and had a good game plan and was able to stick to it and get some outs, get some quick outs and throw strikes and keep the ball down."
- Ryan Dempster

It's also part of the game to run over the second basemen to break up a double play, especially if that second basemen is Rickie Weeks
"It's part of the game. You've got to expect everything in the game. He's trying to score a run, and I'm trying to get the ball and tag him out … I don't think it was a bad play. I was up the line."
- Geovany Soto

But does it have to be Reed Johnson?
"I've got to play my bench some, I really do. What's the sense having people coming out of Spring Training with at-bats and sharp, and all of a sudden I have them sit there a couple weeks without playing. You've got to play your bench, and your bench has to help you, at times, win some baseball games."
- Lou Piniella

Feint praise
"Marquis was OK. I've seen him throw better, [but] he kept us in the game until the fifth inning."
- Lou Piniella