If (Mike) Hargrove was his own man, I would have been picked (for the 1998 All-Star team). He is another person who doesn't appreciate what I did for him.

I know the Chicago media will write a lot of bad things, but they'll write a lot of good things too. I can live with that. In Cleveland, all I got was negative press.

When you talk about locker room betting, we bet on everything... It's no different than anyone else's office pool. Money changes hands in the locker room; it's whatever you want.

I feel like myself and the city of Cleveland are in the same boat. We're made for each other. A few years ago, everybody had bad thoughts on Albert Belle. I feel that has changed.

What we should have done is kept the same team that played in the '95 World Series. Those trades (Eddie Murray & Carlos Baerga) caused a lot of chaos in the organization. I didn't feel like we were moving in the right direction.

There were so many Cuban-Americans upset that we were going to Cuba and I was curious to see why they were so angry, and anti-Castro. I found out as soon as we got there. The people were treated terrible. The conditions were terrible. I can see why people risk their lives and limbs to get out. (Fidel Castro) lives like a king and won't help anybody, and has everybody scared to death. Nobody lives a normal life. It was still a good experience, but I thought we should just play that one game.

Some people are saying it's a slap in the face for me to go to a competitor, but it also was a slap in my face that they would go out and trade for Matt Williams, especially when my situation was unsure.