Motivation Quote by Jerry Coleman

Baseball has always loved its tiny contradictions, and Jerry Coleman packs one into a single clean call: "He slides into second with a stand up double". The phrase "stand up double" is scorer-shorthand for a hit so solid the runner can pull into second without drama, upright, in control. Then Coleman undercuts that calm image with "slides" a move associated with panic, pressure, and the body hitting dirt on purpose. In eight words, you get a whole little movie: confidence turning into urgency, or caution masquerading as swagger.

Coleman knew this tension from both sides of the microphone. As an athlete and later a broadcaster, he understood that the point of a call isn't sterile accuracy; it's the sensation of the moment. The line leaves space for the listener to imagine the reason: a late throw, an aggressive third-base coach, a runner who doesn't trust the outfielder's arm, a guy playing like every ninety feet matters. It's also a subtle portrait of modern baseball's ethos: even when the play "should" be routine, the smart player manufactures certainty. Sliding on a "stand up" moment is the insurance policy, the unglamorous choice that keeps rallies alive.

There's humor here, too, the kind baseball people speak fluently. Coleman lets the contradiction hang without apology. The game is full of terms that fossilize into cliches; this one jolts the ear back to the physical reality. Dirt, spikes, velocity, a bag reached a half-second before logic says it was necessary.