New York Mets manager Casey Stengel (1890-1975) was quoted by sportswriter Jim Murray in May 1962:
“Now there’s three things you can do: you can win or you can lose. Or it can rain.”
The quote is frequently listed among Stengel’s most memorable quotations. “You win some, you lose some, and some get rained out” is a similar saying.
Wikipedia: Casey Stengel
Charles Dillon “Casey” Stengel (/ˈstɛŋɡəl/; July 30, 1890 – September 29, 1975), nicknamed “The Old Perfessor”, was an American Major League Baseball outfielder and manager. He was elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1966.
Stengel was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and originally nicknamed “Dutch”, a common nickname at that time for Americans of German ancestry. After his major league career began, he acquired the nickname “Casey”, which originally came from the initials of his hometown (“K. C.”), which evolved into “Casey”, influenced by the wide popularity of the poem Casey at the Bat. In the 1950s, sportswriters dubbed him with yet another nickname, “The Old Professor” (or “Perfessor”), for his sharp wit and his ability to talk at length on anything baseball-related.
31 May 1962, Oakland (CA) Tribune, “Can Casey Cure Liz?” by Jim Murray, pg. 40, col. 1:
“Now there’s three things you can do: you can win or you can lose. Or it can rain. And it said it would rain here but I musta been reading some foreign papers as they tell me it never rains here in the summer.”
(Spoken by New York Mets manager Casey Stengel.—ed.)
11 October 1983, Seattle (WA) Times, “Diamonds in the Rough” Great baseball quotes” by Kevin Nelson (Independent News Alliance), pg. C2, col. 5:
Now there’s three things you can do in a baseball game: You can win or you can lose or it can rain.
—Casey Stengel
Google Books
Sportswit
By Lee Green
New York, NY: Ballantine Books
1986, ©1984
Pg. 37:
CASEY STENGEL major league manager:
“Now, there’s three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.”
Google Books
The Yankees Fanatic
By Randy Howe
Guilford, CT: Lyons Press
2007
Pg. 271:
Now there’s three things you can do in a baseball game: You can win or you can lose or it can rain.
CASEY STENGEL
Twitter
Sports Quotes
@Sport_Quots
There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain. - Casey Stengel
6:15 AM - 24 Sep 2015
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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