Long before the great Casey Stengel was winning championships in The Bronx and promoting baseball in Flushing, Charles Dillon Stengel belonged to the Dodgers and the borough of Brooklyn. Nicknamed "Casey" because of his hometown of Kansas City (K.C.) Stengel began his career as a Brooklyn Dodger. In his debut (September 17, 1912), he collected four hits, a walk, and two stolen bases. Stengel's debut at Washington Park was just the beginning. The following season Casey serenaded the brand new Ebbets Field by hitting the first home run in what would become one of the most beloved ballparks in baseball history. He had an astounding career which spanned 39 years, 18 teams between playing and managing, from 1912 to his retirement in 1965, which doesn't include his minor league stops. Casey Stengel, unlike any other baseball icon, was beloved by just about everyone. He is the only person to have his number retired by both the New York Yankees and the Mets. The only person to have worn the uniforms of the Brooklyn Dodgers, New York Giants, New York Yankees and the New York Mets. Perhaps he will be most remembered for a dialect he created known as "Stengelese," a mixture of rambling, double talk, and often contradicting chatter. Many viewed Casey's jabber as nothing more than a comic performance. Others believed this was his way of avoiding questions and/or remarks he wished not to discuss. In any case, one thing is for sure, The Old Perfessor sure knew how to put on the charm and speak his mind.

"Casey could fool you. When he wanted to make sense he could. But he usually preferred to make you laugh. That's why he spoke stengelese" - Yogi Berra

Casey & Brooklyn

• "The brought me up to the Brooklyn Dodgers, which at that time was in Brooklyn."

• "When I played in Brooklyn, I could go to the ballpark for a nickel carfare. But now I live in Pasadena, and it costs me fifteen or sixteen dollars to take a cab to Glendale. If I was a young man, I'd study to become a cabdriver."      -Upon his retirement in 1965

• "Brooklyn was the borough of churches and bad ball clubs, many of which I had."

• "He was as good a curveball hitter as anybody ever saw, then or now. In fact, he was so good that John McGraw had a rule, which was that any Giants pitcher who threw Mr. Wheat a curveball would get a fine of $500, or be shipped to Peoria, which was almost as bad." -Talking about Zack Wheat

• "I had this player in Brooklyn, and you could ask him for a match and find out what bar he was in the night before. After we traded him to another club, I always went up to him before the game and asked for a match. If he pulled out a match from some bar, I knew he had been out late and I could pitch him fastballs."

• "Stop that, if you break a toe I won't be able to get anything for you." -talking to Boom Boom Beck

• "I don't want to get involved with Robinson. He was a great ballplayer once. But everyone knows that he's now Chock Full o' Nuts." -Responding to charges by Jackie Robinson (now retired and working for Chock Full o' Nuts) that Casey was a racist

• "All of you guys when you get into the locker room I want you to check your lockers. He stole everything out there he wanted today so he might have stolen your jocks as well." -Speaking to his players (Yankees) after Jackie Robinson had a field day stealing bases during an exhibition game in 1949

• "A shave, please, but don't cut my throat. I may want to do it later myself." -Brooklyn manager 1935, speaking to his barber

Casey and the One Liners

• "Mister, that boy couldn't hit the ground if he fell out of an airplane."

• "I don't like them fellas who drive in two runs and let in three."

• "Without losers, where would winners be?"

• "Good pitching will always stop good hitting and vice versa."

• "All Right, everybody line up alphabetically according to your height."

• "We are in such a slump that even the ones that are drinkin' aren't hittin."

• "Most people my age are dead at the present time."

• "I was such a dangerous hitter, I even got intentional walks in batting practice."

• "How can any manager make mistakes when he hasn't had a base runner for eighteen innings?"

• "I got players with bad watches, they can't tell midnight from moon."

• "When you got four first basemen, you got no first baseman."

• "I don't know if he throws a spitball but he sure spits on the ball."

• "Now there's three things that can happen in a ballgame: you can win, you can lose, or it can rain."

Casey's Yankees

• "Right now we're playin' bad every place. Not hittin', not pitchin', and not fieldin' too good. And judgin' by what I read in the newspapers, the Yankee writers are in a slump, too."

• "It's true I used to fall asleep on the Yankees bench. We were so efficient, it put me to sleep."

• "He has more speed than any slugger, and more slug than any speedster." -Referring to Mickey Mantle

• "I couldn't have done it without my players." -After winning 1958 Championship

• "Well I made up my mind, but I made it up both ways." -asked if he would quit if the Yankees lost to the Pirates in the 1960 World Series

Amazin' Casey

• "Look at that guy. He can't hit, he can't run, and he can't throw. Of course, that's why they gave him to us."

• "My hitters have complained about the bad background here for three years and they've only played here one day." -First game at Shea Stadium, 1964

• "The only thing worse than a Mets game is a Mets doubleheader."

• "We are a much-improved ball club; now we lose in extra innings!"

• "We've (62'Mets) got to learn to stay out of triple plays."

• "We got the young people, twelve to fourteen years old, and some were eighteen, and their parents would have to come to hold some of the banners. And if a banner got in your way, you didn't mind missing a play because it was something bad happening and why would you want to see it?"

• "Ninety-nine more like that and we win the pennant." -referring to the Mets first win in 1962 after losing their first nine games

• "You have to have a catcher, because if you don't, you're likely to have a lot of passed balls."

• "This here team won't go anywhere unless we spread enough of our players around the league and make the other teams (terrible), too." -referring to the 1964 Mets 53-109 record