I don't mean to diminish the job, it's a good job and a real pressure job. But I don't think a relief pitcher should ever be the most valuable player of a league. We only play in maybe half of the games. Being a relief pitcher means part-time employment. We're bench players, and bench players shouldn't be M.V.P.

The best thing about baseball is there's no homework.

They're (California Angels) like the American League All-Star team, and that's their problem, the American League All-Star team always loses.

Someone told me just recently that poets are eulogists. It's their job, to eulogize. I didn't know that, but it makes sense. Because in almost every poem of mine there is a loss.

Coming into a game in the eighth or ninth inning is like parachuting behind enemy lines. And sometimes the chute doesn't open. You have to live with that. It's an occupational hazard.

Most pitchers fear losing their fastball and, since I don't have one, the only thing I have to fear is fear itself.

Reggie Jackson hit one off me that's still burrowing its way to Los Angeles.