They Said It

? Dick Butkus, Hall of Fame middle linebacker, on his reputation for playing dirty: "I never set out to hurt anybody deliberately unless it was, you know, important. Like a league game or something."

? Whitey Herzog, St. Louis Cardinals manager, on his career: "Baseball has been very good to me since I quit trying to play it."

? Mark Koenig, 85, shortstop for the 1927 Yankees, on why he distrusts books written about the Yankees: "One of them has me dead already."