When things happen to you in the worst way, you live with it, you go over it, you think, 'What else could I have done?

Whether your name is (Lou) Gehrig or (Cal) Ripken, (Joe) DiMaggio or (Jackie) Robinson, or that of some youngster who picks up his bat or puts on his glove, you are challenged by the game of baseball to do your very best day in and day out. That's all I've ever tried to do.

Stubbornness usually is considered a negative; but I think that trait has been a positive for me.

I haven't given it (achieving 3,000 hits) much thought. I was taught a certain approach, how to come to the ballpark. I try not to do too much thinking about things like that. In this society we measure success in different ways. Three thousand (hits) represents success over a career, not a season. It'll be nice to get to that point.

In the end of the day, I feel pretty good about the contributions you can make.

I don't love the idea of the responsibility falling on the manager. That just adds to their in-game responsibility.

A lot of people have been telling me that I was going to be in the Hall of Fame and those are nice words and I try not to think about it, but when the call came, it made it real. It was a pretty darned good feeling.