What makes a comment memorable? “Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations” is filled with hundreds, maybe thousands of quotations, but not all of them are memorable. I have my own personal version of Bartlett’s, and I include only quotes that are memorable, not only to me because they were said to me but also because they have met the test of time and will live on in baseball notoriety.

Billy Martin, John McMullen and Larry Lucchino uttered three of the memorable remarks, all involving the New York Yankees and their owner, George Steinbrenner, who was responsible for the fourth. It is the Steinbrenner comment that is especially relevant this weekend.

The Toronto Blue Jays have been in New York playing a four-games series against the Yankees in their fight for the American League East championship, and it was this very same weekend 30 years ago that they were doing the exact same thing.

In their 1985 confrontation, the Blue Jays …

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These things I do not understand:

If the New York Mets wanted to conserve Matt Harvey’s innings, why did they wait until now to do it and jeopardize Harvey’s availability for the post-season?

Why didn’t they learn anything from the Washington Nationals’ similar experience with Stephen Strasburg in 2012?

If players are bigger and stronger than their baseball ancestors, why do pitchers seemingly incur more injuries than pitchers of previous eras?

If teams pamper young pitchers to protect and preserve their arms, why is there an …

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At some relatively early point in the season some people were already proclaiming Bryce Harper and Mike Trout this year’s most valuable players. Send the plaques to the engraver, etch their names on them and just wait for an appropriate moment to put them in their hands.

All hail Harper and Trout.

One minor problem. Four weeks remain in the season, and no votes have been cast. The voters haven’t even received their ballots.

Both Trout and Harper have encountered potholes en route to …

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