Son, we’d like to keep you around this season but we’re going to try and win a pennant.

Meaning of the quote

The coach is telling the player that even though they would like to keep him on the team for the whole season, their main goal is to win the championship. The coach has to make tough decisions to put the team in the best position to achieve that goal, which may mean not keeping the player on the team. The coach is being honest with the player about the situation and the priorities of the team.

About Casey Stengel

Casey Stengel was a legendary baseball player and manager, best known for leading the championship New York Yankees in the 1950s. Despite a colorful and sometimes bumbling reputation, he is remembered as one of the great characters in baseball history, with a career spanning over half a century.

More about the author

More quotes from Casey Stengel

I don’t know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits on the ball.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Don’t cut my throat, I may want to do that later myself.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I was such a dangerous hitter I even got intentional walks during batting practice.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Now there’s three things you can do in a baseball game: You can win or you can lose or it can rain.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Don’t drink in the hotel bar, that’s where I do my drinking.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I don’t like them fellas who drive in two runs and let in three.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Ability is the art of getting credit for all the home runs somebody else hits.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice-versa.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Been in this game one-hundred years, but I see new ways to lose ’em I never knew existed before.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

You got to get twenty-seven outs to win.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Most ball games are lost, not won.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Managing is getting paid for home runs that someone else hits.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I got players with bad watches – they can’t tell midnight from noon.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The secret of successful managing is to keep the five guys who hate you away from the four guys who haven’t made up their minds.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I feel greatly honored to have a ballpark named after me, especially since I’ve been thrown out of so many.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Son, we’d like to keep you around this season but we’re going to try and win a pennant.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The trouble is not that players have sex the night before a game. It’s that they stay out all night looking for it.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The key to being a good manager is keeping the people who hate me away from those who are still undecided.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The team has come along slow but fast.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

You have to have a catcher because if you don’t you’re likely to have a lot of passed balls.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Without losers, where would the winners be?

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The trick is growing up without growing old.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Never make predictions, especially about the future.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The Yankees don’t pay me to win every day, just two out of three.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Finding good players is easy. Getting them to play as a team is another story.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

No baseball pitcher would be worth a darn without a catcher who could handle the hot fastball.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

They say some of my stars drink whiskey, but I have found that ones who drink milkshakes don’t win many ball games.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

They told me my services were no longer desired because they wanted to put in a youth program as an advance way of keeping the club going. I’ll never make the mistake of being seventy again.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

There comes a time in every man’s life, and I’ve had plenty of them.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

You gotta lose ’em some of the time. When you do, lose ’em right.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I came in here and a fella asked me to have a drink. I said I don’t drink. Then another fella said hear you and Joe DiMaggio aren’t speaking and I said I’ll take that drink.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

You have to go broke three times to learn how to make a living.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Oldtimers, weekends, and airplane landings are alike. If you can walk away from them, they’re successful.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

I was not successful as a ball player, as it was a game of skill.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Sure I played, did you think I was born at the age of 70 sitting in a dugout trying to manage guys like you?

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

If we’re going to win the pennant, we’ve got to start thinking we’re not as good as we think we are.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The trouble with women umpires is that I couldn’t argue with one. I’d put my arms around her and give her a little kiss.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

They say Yogi Berra is funny. Well, he has a lovely wife and family, a beautiful home, money in the bank, and he plays golf with millionaires. What’s funny about that?

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

If you’re playing baseball and thinking about managing, you’re crazy. You’d be better off thinking about being an owner.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Two hundred million Americans, and there ain’t two good catchers among ’em.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

Most games are lost, not won.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

The Mets have shown me more ways to lose than I even knew existed.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

If you’re so smart, let’s see you get out of the Army.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

When you are younger you get blamed for crimes you never committed and when you’re older you begin to get credit for virtues you never possessed. It evens itself out.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

All right everyone, line up alphabetically according to your height.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

You gotta learn that if you don’t get it by midnight, chances are you ain’t gonna get it, and if you do, it ain’t worth it.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)

It’s wonderful to meet so many friends that I didn’t used to like.

Casey Stengel

American baseball player and coach (1890-1975)