Doug Harvey Quotes

Doug Harvey

Profession : Baseball Player

Birth : December 19, 1924

The integrity of the game is the umpires. Nobody else. The entire integrity of the game is the umpires.

Doug Harvey

Willie Mays was the best baseball player I ever saw. He could do anything.

Doug Harvey

If you don't need umpires out there, and you can put robots out there, then why do we need ballplayers?

Doug Harvey

Balls and strikes are the basic tenet to everything in baseball. From the perspective of hitting, pitching, offense and defense, it's all about the strike zone and how the battle is waged there between the pitcher and hitter.

Doug Harvey

I've heard it said that umpires are necessary evil. Well, we are necessary, but we are not evil. We are hard-working and dedicated people whose primary interest is to make sure the game is played fairly. We are the integrity of the game.

Doug Harvey

Umpires are necessary evils. That's just the nature of the beast. For years, people have looked on umpiring as a job they could get any postman to do.

Doug Harvey

There was something special about watching a manager and umpire both convinced they were totally right, but knowing that one had to be wrong. As an ump, those moments made my job fun, and getting 'nose-to-nose' was part of my job description.

Doug Harvey

I was correct in every call I made, regardless of what managers, players or replay may have said. To me, that's the reason I'm in the Hall of Fame. If I didn't umpire with conviction, I wouldn't have made it for long.

Doug Harvey

When you're in between the white lines, the game face is on. I was only focused on the task at hand - out, safe, ball, strike - leaving little time to think about how special a player, moment or game happened to be.

Doug Harvey

As we all know, Cooperstown is the home of baseball. One of the many duties of the home plate umpire is to make sure that the runner touches home. Well, if you're a true baseball fan, you need to visit Cooperstown. This is home.

Doug Harvey

Before I joined professional baseball, I started umpiring in San Diego, California. I worked 155 games in a five-month season. For three years in a row, I was working tripleheaders on Saturday and doubleheaders on Sunday.

Doug Harvey

I always told my young umpires, 'Don't get mad. Whatever you do, don't show it. But no matter how long it takes, get even.'

Doug Harvey

I want you to know that I am one of the more fortunate people in life. There aren't too many of us that somebody selects and says, 'You know, that guy ought to be an umpire.' That's what happened to me.

Doug Harvey

I'd love to stay in baseball, but I won't beg. I'd love to work with young umpires. I think I could teach them, help them develop. I can spot flaws, help them get over the hump. You're striving for perfection every game, yet you never achieve it. If baseball wants me, I'm available.

Doug Harvey

I just umpire. That's what I've done. That's all I can do. I'm one of the fortunate ones on God's earth. I found what God meant for me to do. People ask if I like working home plate best. I just want to be between the white lines. That's where I belong, and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Doug Harvey

If you're a photographer, they give you a camera. If you're a writer, they give you a typewriter. If you're an umpire, they give you an unseen object and they call it a strike zone, and nobody seems to agree with you no matter what you call.

Doug Harvey

I always tell my wife, 'If you're ever looking for something to put on my gravestone, put down, 'He was an honest man, and he never held a grudge.'

Doug Harvey

I know that there are no famous 'Doug Harvey plays.' And I'm proud of that.

Doug Harvey

I set out to be the best umpire of my time. But I don't know what it takes to be great.

Doug Harvey

I was a great base umpire, but I was the most mediocre plate umpire to ever come into the major leagues.

Doug Harvey