"I was a fan of Johan Santana ... until he told me he used to watch me growing up."
--Glavine presenting the A.L. Cy Young Award to Johan Santana at the NY Baseball Writers Awards Dinner (Jan. 28th)

"If I don't win 300 games this year for some reason, then I will play next year. Unless my arm blows out and that's the end of it. Barring something crazy, assuming I have a good year and I win 300 games, I'm not going to sit here and say that I won't play. But it would take an awful lot for me to play next year, and I don't mean monetarily. I just mean it would really have to be some unfinished business or some tremendous burning desire for me to go out there and play another year at this point."
--Tom Glavine

"He doesn't have to make an announcement about leadership. But then you see him sitting with a kid who needs to be sat with."
--Mets owner Fred Wilpon on Tom Glavine

"To me it would be [Tom] Glavine. He knows how to lead even as a pitcher. He always has something smart and incisive and important to say. He's been through it all. He knows how to win. He knows how to lead. He knows what to do."
--Mets manager Willie Randolph on which Mets player fit the mold of a captain

"Tommy, when he speaks, it's like E.F. Hutton. His voice carries throughout the room."
--Mets manager Willie Randolph on Tom Glavine

"Obviously people are going to look at the guys on our team that are older and the first thing that's going to jump out at them is the injury factor. Just keep your fingers crossed. But there's no guarantee your young players are going to stay healthy. It's kind of a crapshoot on both ends of it. The guys with the experience, who have done it, who have been there, that's what you're hoping to tap into."
--Tom Glavine

"I'm so happy for him. There's not a guy I've ever played with who deserves it more."
--Mets catcher Paul Lo Duca on Tom Glavine's chance at 300 wins.

"In the (Indianapolis) 500, you have 10 guys working on a car and that car can only go a few times around the track before they have to work on it again. Too much speed. A Toyota Camry, if you change the oil and treat it right, it can go for hundreds of thousands of miles. "
--Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson comparing Tom Glavine's pitching style to a Toyota Camry.

"I think there's no question when I look at myself now, as opposed to five years ago or three years ago, I'm a better pitcher, in terms of things that I could do or ways I can get hitters out."
--Tom Glavine

"He leads by example. He's got the respect of everybody in here. He's a guy that hopefully wins his 300th game this year, but yet he's still one of the hardest workers in camp. He's done this for how many years, and he's still the first one out there, going 100 percent and doing stuff that a lot of guys take lightly. I think that's the kind of leadership a captain shows."
-- David Wright on Tom Glavine

"I think a huge reason for our success last year was what went on in the clubhouse, the fraternity-like atmosphere, and he was a big part of that. He's going to be 41 years old, but he loves to joke around, play some pranks and stuff, and that's the kind of chemistry we have in here. It doesn't matter what clubhouse he's in, people have an automatic respect for Tom Glavine."
--David Wright

"The ultimate professional. Major-league person first."
-- Mets pitching coach Rick Peterson on Glavine

"Another year wiser. Another year closer to retirement. Another year closer to the senior tour."
--Tom Glavine, an avid golfer, on turning 41.

"Duque's already there. I'm going to go with John Maine. I don't think he's got anything else to do with his life."
-- Tom Glavine joking around on which Met is the likeliest to pull a Julio Franco and try to play until age 50.

"Dad, if you retire next year, does mom have to get a job?"
-- 6-year-old Mason Glavine, who posed the question to Tom Glavine recently.

"I've been doing this long enough now that I know what I do well, I know what I need to do in order to be good and I trust my ability to do that. Believe me, there are times I stand out there and wish I could say, 'You know what, try and hit it,' and throw a fastball. If I threw hard, I probably wouldn't know what to do with it. I have a much greater appreciation for being able to make pitches."
--Tom Glavine

"They're the kind of things that are hard to enjoy when you're still playing. All of these things, when I'm done playing and I look back on them, I'm going to be extremely proud. That's not to say that I'm not proud now. But when I'm done playing I think I'll have a much better appreciation for it than I do right now. Right now it's just another thing along the way that I can't enjoy because I have too many other things that I want to do."
--Tom Glavine on passing the 2500 mark for strikeouts

"The tendency for me now, having gone three starts without a win, is to get a little frustrated. At the same time, my job is to give us an opportunity to win, which I've done. It's the kind of thing where I'm trying to focus on what I'm doing. I know I'm throwing the ball. I know I'm pitching well. If I continue to do that, with this team, my wins are going to come. I have to fight myself from looking at what's going on and trying to hurry up and get somewhere. Instead, I have to let things take their course. It's a long year. If I stay healthy there's no reason to believe I'm not going to get seven more wins."
--Tom Glavine after his no decision against the Diamondbacks May 3rd

"If he (passes Aaron), great. If he doesn't, then I'm not going to say great, but it would be unfortunate for him. I don't really know that I'm sitting here rooting for it, but I'm certainly not rooting against it. Whatever happens, happens."
-- Tom Glavine on Barry Bonds' homerun chase

"If everybody's doing it, I've got to join everybody else. It looks bad, like everybody else. My kids will like it, but I don't think my wife will."
-- Tom Glavine on getting his head shaved like his teammates.

"He's looking 10 years younger. He'll be pitching until he's 50."
--Mets hitting coach Rick Down on Tom Glavine's new 'do.

"I saw him pitch through some injuries that no one knew, some pretty bad injuries, and win 20. He was criticized pretty badly after the All-Star Game in San Diego [when he was charged with five runs and nine hits] and he didn't let it bother him. After he won his second Cy Young Award [in 1998], people said he was declining. Then the problem with the strike zone [QuesTec]. He made the adjustment. When he went from here to New York, he struggled and people said, 'Oh, he won't win 300.' And here he is."
--Braves pitcher John Smoltz on Tom Glavine

"There's no way to make people understand what it feels like to go out there and do what you want to do and make pitches, and have bad results. It's one of the probably single-most frustrating things that as a pitcher you deal with."
-- Tom Glavine after the Mets 3-0 loss to the Giants May 30th. Glavine went 7 innings, giving up 3 runs to take the loss.

"Right now I'm in one of those ruts where, on a personal level, wins have been hard to come by. It's hard going out there and pitching well and not getting results. I don't know how to say it any differently than that."
--Tom Glavine after the Mets 4-2 extra-inning loss to the Phillies June 5th. Glavine went 7 innings, giving up 2 runs for the no-decision.

"I'm getting tired of talking about the whole 300 thing because I get the sense that's all everyone thinks I care about, and I don't. It's the furthest thing from my mind right now. I go out there to pitch to help us win. If I’m not winning, and we’re not winning, then that’s not good. I want to go out there and pitch well and have us win the game ... It's frustrating regardless of where you are if you're pitching well and your team is not winning games. And it's equally frustrating when I'm standing here as an individual and haven't been a part of winning in a month. That's not fun, regardless of where I am in terms of personal goals. I just want to try to put today behind me and get back to what I've been doing all season long and trust that if I do that the results are going to get better."
-- Tom Glavine, after the Mets 15-7 loss to the Tigers June 10th.

"I made some mistakes and they made me pay for them. I made some good pitches, and they hit them too."
--Tom Glavine, after the Mets 15-7 loss to the Tigers June 10th.

"It was nice. It was unusual. Look, I know these people are paying attention [to] this rut I'm in. And I know they also want to see me win 300 games. I know they appreciate all that. They appreciate a good effort on a given night. It was a very nice feeling."
-- Tom Glavine on the fans giving him a standing ovation after 8+ innings of 1-run ball en route to a 9-1 win over the A's (June 22nd)

"I think that parachute went out as he came around third and he started to moonwalk."
-- Mets manager Willie Randolph on Tom Glavine getting thrown out at home trying to score from first on a double by Jose Reyes (June 22nd)

"C'mon, you can't get on him. He's 110 years old."
-- Mets closer Billy Wagner on Glavine getting thrown out on the play (June 22nd)

"I'm glad he did something wrong. He was showing up the rest of us. It doesn't look good for us when the pitcher has all the big hits."
-- Mets outfielder Shawn Green on Glavine getting thrown out (June 22nd)

"You're trying to find a spot in the clubhouse that will get you a run or do stupid stuff that will get you a run. The Notre Dame helmet didn't work. The Patriots helmet didn't work. Earl Campbell had a couple of runs in it."
-- Tom Glavine, who began wearing football helmets that the visiting clubhouse manager owned to get good luck in the clubhouse during the Mets 17-inning 5-3 win over the Astros (July 7th)

"I was downstairs hiding in the tunnel trying to find a spot that had some runs in it. You get a good sense of what's going on from the reaction of the crowd. I knew [Shawn Green] did something. I didn't know what because you could kind of hear the ooh's and then when the ball fell in you hear the cheers. The same thing with Lastings [Milledge]. I didn't see it. I just went with the reaction and I knew it was good."
--Tom Glavine, on the Mets scoring a two-out run in the 8th to put him in line for his 298th Career Win.

"I'm not going to lie to you that if I didn't come out with a win tonight it would have had some psychological repercussions"
--Tom Glavine on the Mets 2-1 win against the Reds July 14th. It was his 298th win of his career.

"That will be a special day for all of us. If I do nothing else in my career but help this guy to 300, I will have done a lot."
--Closer Billy Wagner on Tom Glavine's quest for 300 wins

"He's kind of like the wise person on the team. He seems to know all aspects of the game, and you can just sense that he's got this kind of aura about him that he's in control. It just feels good to be around somebody like that."
--Mets pitcher John Maine

"To be on his team, I admire him and respect him that much more. To see the kind of person he is, to see what kind of teammate he is, to play with a future Hall of Famer like that and to have him invite you out to dinner. Everyone will remember his 300th win, but those little things like that are the things I'll remember. There are so many things he's brought to this team as far as leadership."
--Mets third baseman David Wright

"He pitched hurt a lot. Spurs in his shoulder, elbow, everything. I know he went to the post when he wasn't feeling good, but the thing that separates him from a lot of other pitchers is he still expected to win. A lot of other pitchers go to the post not feeling good and that's their excuse to lose. That's what separates mediocrity from excellence."
--Orioles Pitching Coach (and former Braves pitching coach) Leo Mazzone on Tom Glavine

"It's hard to say he's blue collar. People are going to say, 'He's in the big leagues. How can he be blue collar?' But he is. There's not enough adjectives to describe Tom Glavine, the pitcher, and Tom Glavine, the person. It was a privilege to be his coach. We had a lot of fun."
--Leo Mazzone on Tom Glavine

"I obviously want us to win every game, but I want Tom to win every time he goes out there, and I don't think there's anything wrong with that. This guy's doing something that none of us may ever see happen again."
-- Mets reliever Scott Schoeneweis on Tom Glavine's quest for 300 wins.

"The Hall of Fame players who have played this game, to have your name mentioned in that kind of sentence, it's something I'm proud of. I'm humbled by it.  Pick your adjectives. Believe me, it's something I never thought 20 years ago that I'd be having a discussion about. It's pretty cool right now."
-- Tom Glavine on approaching 300 wins

"The Cy Young Award, you kind of celebrate that by yourself, and the World Championship you celebrate with your team, and that’s much more fun. This, to a degree, is probably closer to the World Championship because I know how much my teammates wanted me to get it, I know how happy they are for me and to be able to share my personal moment with those guys means an awful lot to me… "
--Tom Glavine on winning No. 300

"It was great because he's been trying really hard for a really long time. And it's just great that he could finally get here, because for so long we talked about how he's going to get 300 wins someday."
--Tom's 12-year-old daughter, Amber

"We were like, 'Go do it, drive in all the runs and pitch a one-hit shutout ... This is your night."
--Catcher Paul Lo Duca on Tom Glavine's 300th win

"Off the field, we have so many golf memories, but the one that takes the cake is his home course, par five and walking across what was a little stone wall across the creek. And the next thing I hear is this tremendous splash. Obviously I jerked my head around and I see one club up in the air above the water and he's totally submerged. He's gone in with two clubs and he came out with one. And he's soaking wet. We're all laughing [a ton]. And he comes out . . . walks across the fairway, changes clothes, hits the shot like nothing ever happened. And I couldn't get that sound out of my head every time I went to go swing. I heard that splash and it was absolutely hilarious. He did lose a club out of it, though."
--Braves pitcher John Smoltz on Tom Glavine

"My first game here was horrible. My first year here was -- I'm not going to say it was horrible, but it wasn't very good. Things have steadily gotten better. They've gotten better to the point where here we are now. Five years into this, I've at least gained a measure of respect with the people in this city that I had hoped to achieve."
--Tom Glavine

"To say that I'm humbled and flattered certainly would not scratch the surface of how I feel right now at this moment. To you guys, the fans in New York, it's been a fun ride for me here. It really has."
--Tom Glavine at the pre-game ceremony honoring his 300th career win.

"I guess there was some part of me -- not really when I walked off the field, but during the course of the game -- that thought, 'You know, this could be the last time I ever pitch here.' But beyond that fleeting 15 seconds, I really didn't think about it much. The fun part of pitching for me right now is trying to execute my game plan, and that's really all I'm thinking about."
 -- Tom Glavine, on possibly pitching his last game at Turner Field, September 2, 2007.

"It won't be the last competition between the two of us. I can guarantee you that. For bragging rights, it was nice to finally beat him -- he's certainly had my number. I've pitched well against him this year, but he's pitched a little bit better, obviously, and gotten the better end of the stick."
--Tom Glavine on defeating the Braves and John Smoltz, 3-2 on Sept. 2, 2007.

"It's always nice to hit your stride in the most important part of the year. From my standpoint, I'm just trying to go out there and provide our guys an opportunity to win the game every time I go out there. I feel good about how I've been able to do that.

"It certainly is important this time of year. I've been through this. I understand what it's about. I'm one of the veteran guys they rely on to go out there and do what you're supposed to do this time of year, so I'm happy I've been able to go out there and do it."

 -- Tom Glavine after his 3-1 win against the Houston Astros Sept. 8th. Glavine has not lost a decision since July 2 and is 6-0 with a 3.30 ERA since then.

"The determining factor becomes how much does my enjoyment of the game outweigh the sacrifices that they’re making because, with each year that I play here, they’re older, they’re into more things. They miss more things when they come up here whether it’s baseball games or hockey games or things like that. The way I was brought up and the way I try to parent, I have a hard time accepting that they’re making sacrifices for me as opposed to the other way. I’m not saying I can’t come to that decision and say ‘Okay I can do it for one more year.’ But that’s the hard part for me to deal with because of how my parents were with me. They were at everything. I never missed a game. I never had to do any of that stuff that my kids have to do for me."
 -- Tom Glavine on whether he will pitch in 2008

"I've had plenty of low points. I played for 20 years and won one World Series, so a lot of seasons ended in low points. The goal every year from the start of Spring Training is to win a championship. That's not always realistic. We had the chance to go to the World Series last year and fell a game short. We had the opportunity to make the postseason this year and let it get away from us. You never know when one or two games that got away from you will make the difference. In the last six weeks, we did a lot of that."
 -- Tom Glavine on the Mets not making the postseason

"I'm not devastated, but I am disappointed. Devastated is a word used for greater things in life than a game. I was disappointed in the way I pitched."
--Tom Glavine after his final start of the season, Sept. 30th.

"While Tom is disappointed to be leaving New York and all of his friends and teammates there, he has an opportunity to go back to Atlanta to continue his career with the Braves. Ultimately, as everyone knows, Tom's decision was tremendously influenced by the importance of his family being paramount in his life.
 -- Tom Glavine's agent Gregg Clifton on Glavine returning to the Braves

"I'm supposed to be doing things for my kids. But  more and more, my kids were sacrificing for me, whether it was missing their ballgames or missing their friends' birthday parties. When they were getting on a plane two or three times a month, they were doing it for me. I didn't feel good about asking them to do it anymore."
 -- Tom Glavine on the fact that, if he had not gotten an offer from the Braves he planned to retire rather than subject his family to another year of splitting time between two cities.