Top 50 Eric Davis Quotes (2025 Update)

1. “Life is too short to worry about anything. You had better enjoy it because the next day promises nothing.”

— Eric Davis

2. “It takes a lot of energy to be negative. You have to work at it. But smiling is painless. I’d rather spend my energy smiling.”

— Eric Davis

3. “Life is too short to worry about anything.”

— Eric Davis

4. “If you don’t believe in something, you’ll fall for anything. I believe everything happens for a reason. If you are strong from within, you can will anything. I’m a firm believer that where there’s a will, there’s a way.”

— Eric Davis

Featured in: Strong Quotes

5. “I don’t listen to what people say about me and I don’t read what they write about me. People can compare me to anyone they want to, but I’m not going to worry about it.”

— Eric Davis

6. “Never give up and don’t ask why because every situation does not need an answer. I’m a firm believer that I don’t worry about anything I can’t control.”

— Eric Davis

7. “It’s easy to see why pitchers respect McGwire. If you hit behind him, they’re saying that they don’t respect you. You have to change their thinking.”

— Eric Davis

8. “I don’t want to be famous. I want to be secure. I don’t want the world. I just want a piece of it. I want people to remember Eric Davis.”

— Eric Davis

9. “People spend time worrying about things they think they have to have and lose perception of what they do have. You can have all the money and material things you want. If you aren’t here to enjoy them, what good do they do?”

— Eric Davis

10. “Circulating through the children’s ward and seeing terminally ill kids, heads shaved, smiling and having a ball despite the tubes and needles sticking into them, I thought: What do I have to worry about? If God takes me, at least I’ve lived for 35 years.”

— Eric Davis

11. “I love the game, it’s the greatest game on earth, that’s why I can’t understand all of this talk about trying to make the game better. People talk about the high strike zone and changing this and that. Why? To speed up the game? That’s the beauty of baseball. There is no time element.”

— Eric Davis

12. “Blessings can come in a number of ways. The Lord doesn’t give you what you want, the Lord gives you what you need.”

— Eric Davis

13. “I’d never heard of colon cancer. Baseball wasn’t even important to me. I have a wife and two girls. That’s what was important. The doctors told me and all I could say was, ‘When are we going to get this thing out?’”

— Eric Davis

14. “When you get back on the field and do things, any doubts you’ve developed leave. The more consistent you become, the fewer doubts you have.”

— Eric Davis

15. “Nothing I did contributed to me having cancer, so I can’t sit back and say, ‘Oh why me.’ Why not me? Why does tragedy always have to hit someone else?”

— Eric Davis

16. “I’m being compared to the impossible. I never saw Mays, Aaron or Clemente play. What about the people I face every day? Tim Raines is the best? Mattingly is the best? Why not compare me to my peers?”

— Eric Davis

17. “People saw me as being heroic, but I was no more heroic than I was with other injuries I had, like the lacerated kidney I suffered during the 1990 World Series. It’s just that people haven’t known anyone with a lacerated kidney, but everyone can relate to someone with cancer.”

— Eric Davis

18. “I was fortunate to play for Pete Rose and have teammates like Ken Griffey Sr., Tony Perez and Dave Concepcion. I grew up in the game with a mature attitude. I’ve always known it was better to be seen and not heard.”

— Eric Davis

19. “I could’ve played basketball, but my mind was on baseball. I didn’t know what I was in for. In high school it was a matter of talent. No one told you what to do.”

— Eric Davis

20. “I ate while I was taking chemo. The doctors didn’t know. I really didn’t get any nausea. I didn’t have side effects. I would be drained for a day and a half.”

— Eric Davis

21. “I will be a role model for cancer patients for the rest of my life. But you know what? When I was getting chemo, those people inspired me.”

— Eric Davis

22. “I’m having a good time. I’m going to treat every game and every day as if they are my last because I now know that they could be.”

— Eric Davis

23. “People always ask me how I can hit the ball so far, and I say, ‘I just swing.’ It’s the coaches who first told me I had good bat speed. I was just swinging, and I guess it was fast. I’m pretty fast at everything.”

— Eric Davis

24. “I want to establish myself as the first Eric Davis, not the next Willie Mays.”

— Eric Davis

25. “If you’re feeling pressure, then you shouldn’t be here.”

— Eric Davis

26. “Baseball is not what I love. It’s my job.”

— Eric Davis

27. “I was disappointed in everything – my start and the team’s start. People got down on me, but I never got down on myself. I still believed I could be the type of player everyone, including me, thought I was going to be.”

— Eric Davis

28. “That’s just my family’s mentality. We are a very loving, hugging and kissing kind of family. And we grew up in a church atmosphere and still have that atmosphere. There is no negativity.”

— Eric Davis

29. “You can’t shelter it. You can’t hide it. You have to let people know what you’re going through, what you’re feeling, what you think you have that’s a problem.”

— Eric Davis

30. “I’m not head-strong, and I’m not egotistical. I understand certain things better now. I won’t be trying to be play everyday. There’s only one Cal Ripken, one Lou Gehrig and one Joe DiMaggio. What is good for them isn’t necessarily good for Eric Davis.”

— Eric Davis

Featured in: Strong Quotes

31. “I’m no different than others with cancer. I just happen to play professional baseball. I’m part of those statistics that cancer has touched as well.”

— Eric Davis

32. “There’s only one Mark McGwire. The man walked over 160 times. Just think. If he walks 60 times, he might hit 100 homers.”

— Eric Davis

33. “Most of the places I’ve been, I’ve been a main piece of the puzzle.”

— Eric Davis

34. “I don’t think any player lives up to his potential, because people out there put you so high on a pedestal, you’ll never be as good as they expect.”

— Eric Davis

35. “I don’t even take aspirin.”

— Eric Davis

36. “I have figured out it’s not what you do on the field, it’s how many games you play in.”

— Eric Davis

37. “I think we now come to the park expecting to win instead of playing not to lose.”

— Eric Davis

38. “I’ve been operated on 13 times.”

— Eric Davis

39. “You can’t get more appreciation than that, to be elected by the fans. That’s the ultimate, really.”

— Eric Davis

40. “I remember in 1990, there were five of us making $3 million a year. When guys passed us, we didn’t cry. Why would we cry? You didn’t get mad when someone got $6 million. Or $8 million.”

— Eric Davis

41. “I’ve been hearing this since I first joined the Reds organization, that I’m going to be the next this or that. It’s tough on a young player coming up. You show some positive things and everybody jumps on that and says you should be the next Willie Mays.”

— Eric Davis

42. “I tell you, revenge plays a big part in momentum down here.”

— Eric Davis

43. “Everyone would like to play in their hometown, but right now I like Cincinnati, I like the way it’s going. I’m happy.”

— Eric Davis

44. “The kids competed for a full 32 minutes. We want the kids to compete on every possession.”

— Eric Davis

45. “The last two times I went to spring training, I had to win a job, and if I didn’t get off to a blazing start, I’m on the bench. Now, I’ve proven myself, so it’s not essential that I get off to a real good start.”

— Eric Davis

46. “Come on, when does it come to the point where your name can’t come up in trade talks? Willie Mays got traded. Pedro Martinez got traded. So what? That’s part of the game.”

— Eric Davis

47. “I was able to get operated on four days after I was diagnosed. It was just a matter of getting this baseball-sized tumor out of me. I reflect now on how lucky I was to be in the situation where I could get the best possible help and treatment.”

— Eric Davis

48. “My only goal is to play 162 games and help this team win. If I can do that, everything will take care of itself.”

— Eric Davis

49. “For me to become the highest paid player in the franchise, it was something I didn’t anticipate. But I’m glad. I like playing for Cincinnati.”

— Eric Davis

50. “Not being re-signed in Baltimore was probably the lowest point, mentally, of my career. That city was the only place where I wanted to be at the time, based on everything that had transpired.”

— Eric Davis