Motivation Quote by Dan Quisenberry

Quisenberry’s line is funny because it’s half instruction, half shrug, and fully honest about how baseball actually works. A pitcher can talk about velocity and “stuff” all day, but the game still ends with somebody in the field having to turn a hard-hit reality into an out. By saying fielders must “catch a lot of balls,” he’s stating the obvious in a way that quietly rebukes the fantasy of the lone hero. Pitching, for all its mythology, is outsourced labor.

The sly pivot is “or at least deflect them to someone who can.” That’s where the quote stops sounding like a coach’s cliché and starts sounding like Quisenberry, the deadpan reliever who made a career out of soft contact and nerve. The word “deflect” lowers the bar from perfection to survival: you don’t need artistry, you need a chain of competence. It’s also a gentle joke about panic and improvisation, the way a misplay can still become an out if the team is awake. Baseball’s prettiest moments often come from a mistake that’s handled well.

Context matters: Quisenberry wasn’t a flamethrower; he was a sinkerballer in an era when relievers were becoming brand-name closers. His remark doubles as a quiet manifesto against pitcher ego and highlight-reel thinking. Credit is communal, failure is shared, and the smartest strategy is building a defense that turns “almost” into “enough.”