“Good pitching will always stop good hitting, and vice versa”

“Good pitching will always beat good hitting” is a baseball proverb that has been cited in print since at least 1963. “Good pitching always stops good hitting…and vice versa” was said by Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bob Veale in 1966.
 
The jocular Veale quotation has been frequently credited to baseball managers Casey Stengel (1890-1975) and Yogi Berra since the 1970s, but there is no evidence that either said the line before Veale did.
 
   
Wikipedia: Bob Veale
Robert Andrew Veale (born October 28, 1935 in Birmingham, Alabama) is a former left-handed pitcher in Major League Baseball. He pitched for the Pittsburgh Pirates (1962–1972) and the Boston Red Sox (1972–1974). He attended Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.
 
Google News Archive
17 July 1947, Gettysburg (PA) Times, “Sports Roundup” by Hugh Fullerton, Jr. (AP), pg. 3, col. 2:
(Charley—ed.) Grimm, incidentally, has a simple explanation for the Cubs’ slump: “When we get some good pitching, we ain’t getting no good hitting”...and, of course, vice versa.
   
18 September 1963, Oelwein (IA) Daily Register, “Dodger Lefty Throws 87 Pitches In 24th Victory,” pg. 3, col. 4:
ST. LOUIS, Mo. (AP)—“Good pitching will always beat good hitting,” Johnny Keane said sadly but wisely after Sandy Koufax of Los Angeles overpowered his hard-hitting St. Louis club in perhaps the key game of the National League season.
 
1 January 1967, Cedar Rapids (IA) Gazette, “Quote…Unquote,” pg. 5D, col. 2:
Bob Veale, Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, defining the importance of pitching compared to hitting: “Good pitching always stops good hitting…and vice versa.”
     
22 May 1969, Richmond (VA) Times-Dispatch, “Redd vs. Washington in Playoff” by Jim Fields, pg. E-4, col. 4:
Baseball fans for years have argued the pros and cons of whether good pitching can stop good hitting, or vice versa.
 
13 November 1975, Rockdale (TX) Reporter, “Of Tigers and things…” by Mike Brown, pg. 1B, col. 2:
Oh well, in the immortal words of Yogi Berra, “Good pitching will always beat good hitting, or vice-versa.”
 
24 June 1976, Greensboro (NC) Record, “The Finley sales: Nimble owners sidestep principles” by George F. Will, pg. A8, col. 3:
WASHINGTON—The dugout intellectual who theorized that “good pitching will stop good hitting, and vice versa” may have thought he had plumbed baseball’s depths.
 
Google News Archive
12 January 1978, The Day (New London, CT), “Of the making of laws” by James J. Kilpatrick, pg. 12, col. 5:
The first is from Casey Stengel: Good hitting always stops god pitching, and vice versa.
 
Old Fulton NY Post Cards
20 February 1980, The Herald Statesman (Yonkers, NY), “The Aces” by Ira G. Corn Jr., pg. B8, col. 3:
“Good hitting always stops good pitching and vice versa.”—Casey Stengel.
 
Google News Archive
4 April 1982, Gadsden (AL) Times,  “Top quotes from the game of baseball” (AP), pg. 38, col. 1:
Another was by former Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Bob Veale, who said, “Good pitching will always beat good hitting any time, and vice versa.”
 
Sports Illustrated
Originally Posted: April 10, 1989
THE MOUTHS OF BABE . . . . . . and Yogi and Diz have produced many a malaprop
BY STEVE RUSHIN
(...)
CASEY AT THE MIKE
When Casey Stengel died in 1975, columnist Jim Murray wrote, “God is certainly getting an earful tonight.” Two phrases from a Berlitz course in Stengelese:
 
’‘Line up alphabetically by height.’’ (To his troops in spring training.)
’‘Good pitching will always stop good hitting. And vice versa.’’ (His managerial philosophy.)
   
Sports Illustrated 
Originally Posted: September 27, 2004
They Said It
Think of the people quoted here as the spiritual descendants of Yogi Berra, imparting precious pearls of wisdom
BOB VEALE, 1966
Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher, on the relative importance of pitching and hitting:
“Good pitching always stops good hitting, and vice versa.”