I thank heaven we have had baseball in this world... the kids... our national pastime.

What the hell has (Herbert) Hoover got to do with it? Anyway, I had a better year than he did.

To my sick little pal. I will try to knock you another homer, maybe two today.

As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher's mound. It was as if I'd been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy.

How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball... The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.

What I am, what I have, what I am going to leave behind me - all this I owe to the game of baseball.

I won't be happy until we have every boy in America between the ages of six and sixteen wearing a glove and swinging a bat.