Quotables

"It takes a big man to swing a pink bat."

Howard Smith, senior vice president for licensing for Major League Baseball, on dozens of players' plans to use pink bats on Mother's Day to raise money for breast cancer research. MLB planned to auction off the autographed bats after the players used them.

"The only thing I did wrong was run with a pair of scissors."

Tim Davis, manager of the Salt and Pepper Christian Store in Murfreesboro, Tenn., on confronting with scissors a would-be robber on May 6, chasing him, and cornering him outside the store until police arrived. The robber claimed to have a gun but didn't.

"Twenty-four percent."

Portion of the French population that believes The Da Vinci Code was "inspired by real facts," according to a survey in Science et Vie magazine.

"I just whacked him right in the snout with the nozzle."

Constance Gittles, 74, of Punta Gorda, Fla., on using a garden hose to scare away a 6-foot alligator in her backyard. Ms. Gittles suffered three puncture wounds above the ankle and some smaller scrapes from the May 9 altercation. A trapper later captured the animal in a nearby pond.