Top 104 Quotes & Sayings by Jessica Mendoza - Page 2

I want to be a voice for women, but I've also got two boys at home and my role is important for them, too. Men need to hear a woman who is prepared and understanding.

The beauty of a game like softball is you're failing every day. You might have a .300 batting average, but you're still failing seven out of 10 times. But you're still good.

For a woman to play within baseball, they just need to play well.

My introduction to sports was through baseball. That's all I knew.

I try not to think about it as much when I'm working, it's more just doing my job, but I realize I have more of a responsibility than probably your everyday analyst.

You don't need to be an athlete to enjoy the outdoors.

That's what's beautiful about sports in general is you give someone a bat, a ball, a piece of sporting equipment and what it does to help them just be better people, 'to get out of whatever situation they might be in temporarily for that moment, to be whoever they want to be.

I don't shy away from softball being my background.

I always said this as an athlete, 'Practice like you're the worst player on the field. Play like you're the best.'

I know I might be a little crazy, but I love working out. It has a way of lifting my mood like nothing else can.

To be honest my first memories are getting to know players. I remember being on the bus probably like 3, 4, 5 years old, and my dad would always say go sit with the players in the back.

In college, I was failing almost every class I was taking my freshman year. I was having difficulty in managing my time; I was just overwhelmed. Even though I knew I was smart and knew I was good enough, at that point, I doubted all of it because I struggled to handle my sport, classes and social life all at once.

I've always felt that the more prepared I am, the more confident I would be within the telecast.

When you're successful at something, you think that you need to continue to do what you're doing to get the same result. But I think in order to get better, sometimes you need some failures.

When you think about success - whether it be in softball, getting into college or becoming an 'American Idol' singer - whatever your goals and aspirations are, you're going to have to stand out at some point if you want to succeed.

Doubt is what I see with a lot of women, we doubt ourselves. Whether it's because we think we're too fat or ugly or not smart enough, our gender puts ourselves down. But we need to own exactly who we are.

My father is a first-generation Mexican-American and sports changed his life. It allowed him to basically live his dream, but it was only because he was given the opportunity by one person.

If you're good at what you do, it's going to quiet the people that think you're not good because of how you look or what sex you are.

The last thing I want to think of myself as is anything different.

On the U.S.A. team our income wasn't coming from U.S.A. It was coming from sponsors, it was coming from how we made money elsewhere.

I want to be a role model.

There is nothing more I want to do than impact girls.

We're a role-reversal family in every way possible. And I love that our country has evolved to that. It doesn't matter who makes money, as long as something is rolling in and you're happy.

It's 2015. And I just want to get to the point where we're hearing female voices as much as we're hearing men's.

Instead of just being the person that's like: 'Gosh, that's cool that people are doing stuff and good luck. Do you need me to write a check? I can do that,' I've always just been very hands-on.

The first MLB game I did was a Monday Night game, and no one really knew I was doing it. So walking into the clubhouse, I tried to introduce myself to people like, 'Hey, I'm in the booth.' And they were kind of confused, like, 'You're a female, I don't understand.'

I feel like so many girls are too intimidated to walk into their local Boys & Girls Club or YMCA - places that have equipment and offer a lot of opportunities to be active for little-to-no-money but are usually more boy-focused.

I played baseball when I was younger, but the idea of the college scholarship enticed me to switch over to softball.

You can't always say and do things and wait until the right moment, when everything is perfectly lined up. As women, I feel like we do that. I just see so many women take the back seat and wait until the right opportunity, and when you do that, you miss out on the best things.

My main goal when I talk to groups is to educate families on the physical and mental health benefits that playing sports provide young girls. It's not just about going out there and having fun. That's a part of playing sports, but a big chunk of it is all the other things that sports give you to help you become a much more whole, better person.

For Jennie Finch, she's a stud on the field and everyone's going to love her while she's playing, but no one is going to forget her because of the person that she is. That is what she has over almost any other person that's at the top of their sport.

Softball is my life.

Like, I played baseball with all boys. They didn't want to play catch with me. I mean, it's the story of everything I've done.

Anytime I'm like, 'Ho-hum,' trying to go about my business like anyone else, I'll have a father or someone come up to me and say, 'You know, my daughter never realized she could be in the booth for sports, and now that's what she wants to do.'

I've always wanted to see a game at Fenway.

Some of the best memories of my career have been with 'Sunday Night Baseball' and I will miss my time with our amazing crew, who have been like family.

In broadcasting, especially 'cause people are more public, it's hard to be like 'so what are you making?' Finding that information is huge when you're negotiating a contract. You wanna make sure that you're in the same ballpark.

Embrace the fact that you are different, that your differences are what's going to make you great and your true friends are the ones who are going to love you for those differences.

I don't shy away from things that may be a little different, but own them and implement them in the coverage that I do.

If you see Michael Johnson running a race, and he beats someone by three strides, that's really dominating, but it's beautiful.

I think all women want to get out of our own little bubble and challenge a man's world. And I love challenges. I love that this isn't going to be easy. Being the first is going to be hard. I just want to keep pushing and progressing.

I think when you're really passionate about something, and maybe not every person is like this, but I think there's a large group that feels deep inside, I want something different, I want something more, I want to go on my own path. It's being comfortable being uncomfortable. Because to do that, you're going to have to jump outside of the comfort zone and it isn't going to be perfect. It's going to be scary. And to me, that's when great things happen.

Becoming baseball analyst was really important for me to not just be one of the first, but to literally break open the door and come in and stay, so that we could start inviting our friends and everyone, like, Come on. The door is open now. I am so proud of the fact that I put that pressure on myself: Alright, Jess, you've got a lot of women on your back right now and it's on you, so don't screw it up. I put that pressure on myself on purpose, so I'd realize it's not just about me, it's about a whole gender.

How can we all be better? We can be better by constantly evolving and not saying, Because baseball has always had men, let's make sure we keep it that way. I think we should always challenge ourselves to do things that have never been done.