Top 10 David Eckstein Quotes

David Eckstein
(Baseball player)

David Mark Eckstein  is a retired American professional baseball player who was an infielder in Major League Baseball for ten seasons. He played college baseball for the University of Florida, and has played professionally for the Anaheim Angels, St. Louis Cardinals, Toronto Blue Jays, Arizona Diamondbacks and San Diego Padres. Eckstein won the 2006 World Series Most Valuable Player Award.

Top 10 David Eckstein Quotes

The great thing about this club is we are able to put that stuff behind us and approach every single game the same.

What they've gone through, it puts a lot of things in perspective and that perspective will help you handle the situations in that you know win or lose, life is still going to go on,

There will be no letup. We have a week and a half left. We're going to play every game hard, as you can tell by the last two nights.

One of the biggest things, when you have a pitcher throwing a lot of strikes like that, is to not let him get comfortable throwing strike one. If you let him start to feel like he can just lay it in, lay it in, all of a sudden you're behind.

I played second base all my life. The only time I backhanded balls was on dives. 

That was the key right there. That extended the inning. He could have just jogged down the line and let them turn a double play. We're fortunate he ran hard and through the base. But this club does that. We're able to score extra runs because of that.

It's pretty calming to step to the plate in that situation.

We switched our coverage. You get two outs with one pitch, it's definitely a momentum-changer.

There is definitely a lot more to it than show up and swing. I'm working on staying inside the ball, working on different hit-and-runs, moving runners, creating situations in your head. So when the game comes up, you're prepared to execute whatever needs to be executed.

When I'm off the field I do absolutely nothing. Everybody thinks I'm a hyperactive kid because of the way I play, but when I go home I'm the calmest, most laid-back person you'd ever want to meet. 

Eckstein was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 19th round of the 1997 amateur draft, and selected off waivers by the Anaheim Angels on August 16, 2000. During the 2002 championship year, he led the major leagues with three grand slams, including grand slams in back-to-back games against the Toronto Blue Jays, one of which was a walk-off grand slam leading the Angels to complete the sweep over Toronto, at a time when the Angels were 7–14. After the sweep of the Jays, the Angels went on to win 20 of their next 23 games.
At the end of the 2004 season, Eckstein was part of a "shortstop merry-go-round," in which three free agent shortstops swapped teams: Edgar Rentería went from the Cardinals to the Boston Red Sox, Orlando Cabrera went from the Red Sox to the Angels, and Eckstein went from the Angels to the Cardinals.
In his first seven seasons, he amassed 1,079 hits while batting .286. He was voted to the National League All-Star team in 2005, along with teammates Chris Carpenter, Albert Pujols, Jason Isringhausen and Jim Edmonds. He was a late addition to the 2006 All-Star team. In 3,772 regular season at-bats, Eckstein struck out only 305 times, with a total of 22 in 2007.
Eckstein was a fan favorite in St. Louis, who considered him to be a "pesky" hitter[6] (he chokes up on the bat about 2 inches[7]). On Mother's Day, May 14, 2006, Eckstein was one of more than 50 hitters who brandished a pink bat to benefit the Breast Cancer Foundation.
As a member of the 2006 World Series Champion St. Louis Cardinals, Eckstein was named the World Series MVP. Following a 1–11 start in the first 2 games of the World Series, Eckstein went 8 for 22 with 4 RBI and scored 3 runs in the series, including going 4-for-5 with three doubles in game 4. The World Series victory with the Cardinals made Eckstein one of few starting shortstops who have won a World Series in both the American and National Leagues.

Eckstein was born in Sanford, Florida. He married actress Ashley Drane on November 26, 2005, at his family church in Sanford, Florida, followed by a reception at Walt Disney World.[14] He is a fan of professional wrestling, having made public appearances with Total Nonstop Action Wrestling during the 2006 World Series and on February 11, 2007, he co-managed (along with Tampa Bay Rays outfielder Johnny Damon) TNA wrestler Lance Hoyt for his match with current White Sox conditioning coach Dale Torborg, managed by Sox catcher A. J. Pierzynski at TNA's Against All Odds pay-per-view. His older brother, Rick, is the former hitting coach for the Washington Nationals.