They are supposed to be dispassionate dispensers of Pure Justice, icy islands of emotionless calculation. In short, umpires should be acute Republicans. – George F. Will, 1990

A critic once characterized baseball as six minutes of action crammed into two-and-one-half hours. – Ray Fitzgerald, in Boston Glove, 1970

Baseball is a ballet without music. Drama without words. – Ernie Harwell, "The Game for All America," 1955

Baseball is reassuring. It makes me feel as if the world is not going to blow up. – Sharon Olds, This Sporting Life, 1987