Casey Stengel

1890–1975 · Hall of Fame baseball manager · New York Yankees, New York Mets

Charles Dillon ‘Casey’ Stengel managed the New York Yankees from 1949 to 1960 and, as Wikipedia ↗ puts it, “won ten pennants in his twelve seasons and won seven World Series” — then took charge of the expansion Mets from 1962 to 1965, a team that finished last all four years. The National Baseball Hall of Fame ↗ credits him with 1,905 wins and 1,842 losses and records that the Yankees dismissed him after the 1960 World Series “citing Stengel’s advancing age.” He was a professional wisecracker as much as a tactician; sportswriters gave his looping, subordinate-clause-strewn manner of speech its own name, Stengelese.

Traced to source

5 quotes we’ve traced to Casey Stengel

“I'll never make the mistake of being 70 years old again”

Verified

“Can't anybody here play this game?”

Attributed

“The secret of managing is to keep the guys who hate you away from the ones who are undecided”

Attributed

“There comes a time in every man's life, and I've had plenty of them”

Attributed

“Without losers, where would the winners be?”

Attributed

Not actually Casey Stengel

Often misattributed to Casey Stengel

Famous lines widely pinned on Casey Stengel that we’ve traced to someone else.

“There are three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen, and those who wonder what happened”

actually Nicholas Murray Butler

Did they really say it?

Thought Casey Stengel said something else?

Type a quote you think Casey Stengel said — we’ll tell you what we know, or point you to the best sources.