Everybody faces obstacles. And I looked to people who had been through many to succeed in life. Abraham Lincoln, born to a poor family, faced defeat through most of his life. Lost eight elections, failed two businesses, had a nervous breakdown, and still became president.

Tom Cruise only makes one or two film appearances a year. A baseball player can be the hero or the goat one-hundred and sixty-two times a year.

Made it through high school, went to the University of Minnesota.

All good balls to hit are strikes, though not all strikes are good balls to hit.

To the people out there, baseball is a simple sport. But it is complex. It is never easy.

The Yankees won the pennant, we went on to the World Series, 41 years after that in the city of Toronto. The great city of Toronto, and all the provinces in Canada, everybody reached out and they were excited because we won the first World Series ever, across the border.

I chose baseball because to me baseball is the best game of all.