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 would rather have come to Baltimore than the Yankees. You look at their situation, they're the kingpin and you want to be that underdog that knocks them off the top. That's pretty much the situation I've been in my whole career. It just makes for a better season when you knock the big guys off the top.

I'm pretty much right on schedule. Start off slow, finish up strong. I don't know why everyone panics. I've been doing this for ten years now. Why change?

I mean, people think I'm too intense for baseball. I've always excelled to be the best, no matter what, but it's like people think something is wrong with that.

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.

People want me to do things, be a certain way and that's not going to happen. I'm going to be Albert Belle.

The way I figure is we win as a team and we lose as a team, but I've got to figure out some way where I can have a better April and help the team get off to a better start. I normally heat up when it gets warm, but it would be nice to come out of April and everybody is chasing you.