„Last year I lose almost 20 pounds. When I go home end season I weigh only 163. I worry more 'bout bad back than I worry 'bout baseball. Now I feel goot. Ver goot. I sink I play one fitty games and I hit thee hunnert. I feel I hab goot season. Maybe fiteen home runs, nyenee RBIs, steal maybe dirty bases.“

„I believe I can hit with anybody in baseball. Maybe I can’t hit with the power of a Mays or a Frank Robinson or a Hank Aaron, but I can hit. As long as I play in Forbes Field, I can’t go for home runs. Line drives, yes, but not home runs.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted in “Clouter Clemente: Popular Buc; Rifle-Armed Flyhawk Aims At Second Bat Crown” by Les Biederman, in The Sporting News (September 5, 1964)
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>

„I feel better now than I did at any time last season; the shoulder really hurt me bad last year. The left shoulder still gives me some trouble. It makes me swing differently. I have to adjust. Sometimes I find I'm over-cutting the ball. That is not my natural style. I used to swing and I just knew I could hit the ball hard. I knew when I could hit to right field, when I could pull. Now it's different. I have to force myself more than I ever did. Maybe it's because I'm getting old. Maybe.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

Discussing two separate pre-season shoulder injuries, sustained, respectively, in February 1968 to the right shoulder, and in March 1969 to the left; as quoted in "A Sounder Clemente Has New Outlook; Buc Super Star May Play On and On" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JFAOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=4H0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=7168,1534716 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Tuesday, August 12, 1969), p. 18
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1969</big>

„I never go for home runs. I haven't tried to hit one since 1960 when I thought I had a chance to hit 20.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

After hitting 2 home runs off Don Drysdale—the second and deciding one coming four pitches after being decked by Drysdale, presumably in response to the first—and driving in all 4 runs in a 4-1 Pirate win, as quoted in "Clemente's Bat Dumps Bums" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=CYNPAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cSQEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5013%2C4959243 by Joe Carnicelli (UPI), in The Hendersonville Times-News (Monday, June 5, 1967); p. 9
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

„I only have one superstition: I make sure to touch all the bases when I hit a home run.“

—  Babe Ruth American baseball player 1895 - 1948

As quoted in Baseball's Greatest Quotes (1982) by Kevin Nelson; reproduced in "Morning Briefing: Babe Ruth Was Not a Superstitious Man, Except on 714 Occasions," in The Los Angeles Times (March 1, 1982), p. D2
Unsourced variants:
Just one.Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases.
I have only one superstition. I touch all the bases when I hit a home run.

„I could always hit a home run, but if I try to do that all the time, maybe I not hit over.300. I am more valuable to my team hitting.330,.340, than I am swinging for home runs.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

Speaking before Game 7 of the 1971 World Series, as quoted in "Numero Uno: Roberto!" http://www.mediafire.com/view/1vobx891junlic4/.JPG (1973) by Bill Christine, p. 141
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>

„I was so anxious for this season to start when I was at home last winter. I was thinking in terms of a big year for myself—moneywise. I had batted.357 last year and I thought that if I had another big year I might get paid more money than anybody ever did in baseball. Then I fell and then I wonder if I will be able to play at all.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted in "Top Salary Vision of Clemente Dims; Subpar Season Hurts" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=3q4nAAAAIBAJ&sjid=Y2wDAAAAIBAJ&pg=4117,4986463 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Friday, September 27, 1968), p. 23
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1968</big>

„I don't know. I don't know. I want to be happy because I have never hit three home runs in one game. But how can I be happy when we lose?“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted in "Bob Says 'They Try': Feeble Pitching Takes Joy From Clemente's Night" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=hBFOAAAAIBAJ&sjid=h_0DAAAAIBAJ&pg=5612%2C2872741 by Charley Feeney, in The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (Wednesday, May 17, 1967), p. 26
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

„It is easy to explain. This is the first time I ever went into a season without aches and pains. One year I was bothered by a bad back and it carried into another season. Another year I hurt my hand. This year I feel good.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

On his vastly improved run production, as quoted in "3 Years Are Up and Clemente's At Top of Heap" https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=J8MVAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HBAEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5046%2C533946&dq=easy by Oscar Fraley (UPI), in The Milwaukee Sentinel (Saturday, June 11, 1960), Page 6, Part 2
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

„I want everybody in the world to know that this is the way I play all the time. All season, every season. I gave everything I had to this game.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

Speaking to Roger Angell before Game 7 of the 1971 World Series, as quoted in "Some Pirates and Lesser Men" https://books.google.com/books?id=7PP7VJ0gXa0C&pg=PA285&dq=%22I+want+everybody+in+the+world+to+know+that+this+is+the+way+I+play+all+the+time%22 by Angell, in The New Yorker (November 6, 1971), p. 148; reprinted in Angell's The Summer Game (2004), p. 285
Baseball-related, <big><big>1970s</big></big>, <big>1971</big>

„Before I'm through with the big leagues I've got three more ambitions I'd like to realize. […] I'd like to hit 500 home runs before I end my big league career. And I ought to do it easily. I already have 480 in regular season games. […] Another is to play in 10 World Series before I quit. And that's one I think I will realize too. I've already been in nine. […] The third one had the boys guessing. The newspaper man guessed and guessed and never hit upon it. As a matter of fact, it hasn't anything to do with baseball records at all. Maybe I'll realize it and maybe I won't. But my third ambition is to play at least one season at a salary of $100,000 a year. Don't misunderstand me. I'm not saying that now to boost my game and I'm not out with any announcement of my demands. I've played with Colonel Ruppert a long time and we've never had any serious disagreements. I know that if I can show him that I'm worth that much money, he'll give it to me. And I'm out to show him. Understand it's strictly up to me. And I mention it here simply because of the question the newspaper man asked me and the answer I gave him.“

—  Babe Ruth American baseball player 1895 - 1948

In "Babe Ruth Says: I Would Like to Better Mark," The Austin Statesman (June 25, 1929), p. 11

„No, I don't think I can hit.370 for the season. At my age you come to the point when you are tired in the warmer weather. But if I were younger, and I knew what I know now about hitting, I could do it easily. When you are 28, you feel good all the time. At my age, sometimes you feel groggy. People say, "Why do they have to rest Willie Mays once in a while. They think it is not that hard to play the outfield. But it is not playing the outfield that is so tiring. It is the base-running. People don't realize how much more you are on base and how much running you have to do when you get 200 hits a year. You have to concentrate every minute on the bases to avoid the pickoffs, to fake a steal, to know whether to take the extra base. It begins to wear you down in late summer.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted in "You Can't Overlook Roberto Clemente" by Al Grady, in The Iowa City Press-Citizen (Wednesday, June 28, 1967), p. 13
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1967</big>

„I do not care about home runs. The pitch is always away from me and it is foolish to try to pull this pitch for a home run. The pitcher does not wish it so, and I don't try. I am not foolish. Only in Philadelphia I think maybe I will try for the home run, but I do not think so even in L. A. I make the hits which the pitcher cannot stop, and that is better than striking out and will drive out the pitcher, too.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

As quoted by Les Biederman—who, not coincidentally, notes both Clemente's successful suppression of "the home run urge" and his ability to "hit for distance with the best" (the former earning the "unqualified praise of George Sisler")—in The Sporting News (June 1, 1960), p. 7
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1960</big>

„They always say we need someone to hit home runs. We got some guys who can now. I don’t care for home runs. I showed ’em I could do it when I hit 23 in 1961. Home runs aren’t that important, though. Not to me, anyway.“

—  Roberto Clemente Puerto Rican baseball player 1934 - 1972

On his chances for a third consecutive NL batting title; as quoted and paraphrased in "Clemente Not Thinking of Batting Title" by Milton Richman, in The Cumberland Evening Times (Tuesday, March 15, 1966), p. 12
Baseball-related, <big><big>1960s</big></big>, <big>1966</big>
Контексте: “I never think about that before the season. Toward the end of the year I start thinking about it. Not before. I did it last year by just meeting the ball,” he said. “I didn’t swing hard at all. I think I’m going to do the same thing this year. We have two good hitters behind me now and I don’t have to swing so hard.” He means Donn Clendenon and Willie Stargell. The two hit a total of 41 homers to Clemente’s 10 last year. “They always say we need someone to hit home runs. We got some guys who can now. I don’t care for home runs. I showed ’em I could do it when I hit 23 in 1961. Home runs aren’t that important, though. Not to me, anyway.”

„When I first started playing, everything was outdoors. They were home-made community rinks. I played one game a year indoors. That would be the championship.“

—  Andy Bathgate Canadian ice hockey player 1932 - 2016

Quoted in Kevin Shea, "One on One with Andy Bathgate," http://www.legendsofhockey.net/html/spot_oneononep197801.htm Legends of Hockey.net (2004-04-20)

„I like to just feel how I feel and not worry about it really.“

—  Joe Strummer British musician, singer, actor and songwriter 1952 - 2002

„Maybe in June or July, I looked in the mirror. I’m like, ‘Man, I see a fat man. Look at that man, I feel fat.’ Not just feel fat, just look fat, too. I needed like a bra or something. I kept eating all this Turkish food. I was like, I need to stop doing it. I need to just — the season is coming. It’s a really important season for us. I need to be in shape.“

—  Enes Kanter Turkish basketball player 1992

Interview https://twitter.com/ErikHorneOK/status/909508614259445760 with The Oklahoman’s Erik Horne (September 17, 2017); as quoted in "NBA players explain why they are going vegan and vegetarian" https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/nba/nba-players-explain-why-they-are-going-vegan-and-vegetarian/ar-AAu21r4, MSN.com (October 25, 2017).

„It was probably like two to three years ago. I went vegan for a couple of months, just to lose weight immediately. It wasn’t for the moral aspect back then. It was more because once you go vegan, it sheds the bad fat real fast. I do that before the season, but I’ve been fully vegan for about five to six months now since the season started, and probably a month before. … When I do things, I just fully commit to it. I feel like there is no point in half-assing. I just do it, and if I don’t like it, I just stop doing it. It’s been good. I was losing weight and getting more cut, as you can see, and I just felt really good. … You just feel really good, lighter. And there is a lot more energy you have throughout the day. For me, it’s been good from that aspect.“

—  JaVale McGee American basketball player 1988

"The Real-Life Diet of JaVale McGee, Vegan" https://www.gq.com/story/javale-mcgee-real-life-diet, interview with GQ (February 27, 2018).

„I don't regret one minute of the twelve years I've spent in baseball, but I could regret one season too many.“

—  Sandy Koufax American baseball player 1935

1966 press conference announcing retirement, as quoted by UPI, in "Sandy Koufax Announces Retirement from Baseball at News Meeting" https://newspaperarchive.com/pittsfield-berkshire-eagle-nov-19-1966-p-30/ by Alex Kahn (UPI), in The Pittsfield Berkshire Eagle (November 19, 1966)
Контексте: I don't regret one minute of the twelve years I've spent in baseball, but I could regret one season too many. [... ] I've got a lot of years to live after baseball and I would like to live them with complete use of my body.

„It's great to be hosting SNL again. I hosted sixteen years ago. Back then I was in great shape, I was coming off an MVP season with the Phoenix Suns - now, I play bad golf, drink, sometimes I get arrested.“

—  Charles Barkley American basketball player 1963

From Saturday Night Live, January 9, 2010