Love Quote by Willie Stargell

September is baseball’s pressure cooker, and Willie Stargell’s line lands like a grin in the dugout: “I love September, especially when we’re in it.” On the surface it’s a simple seasonal preference, but the punch is in the qualification. Lots of players love the idea of September - the cooler air, the packed pennant-race schedule, the romance of the stretch run. Stargell only loves it “when we’re in it,” turning a calendar month into a status marker: contention versus irrelevance.

That little twist captures the blunt economy of an athlete’s worldview. September isn’t poetic; it’s conditional. You don’t savor the month because it’s beautiful, you savor it because it means your games still matter. The subtext is competitive and quietly ruthless: if you’re out of the race, September is just the long, dull fade-out of a season that already ended emotionally.

Stargell, the heart of the “We Are Family” Pittsburgh Pirates, was famous for clubhouse warmth and leadership, which makes the line even sharper. It’s not bravado so much as a veteran’s honesty. He’s reminding you that joy in sports isn’t abstract - it’s earned, contingent, tied to being in the fight. The humor softens the edge, but the edge is real: what fans call “late-season magic” is, for players, the privilege of still having something at stake.