Whatever happens, I'm ready to face it.

Baseball is continuity. Pitch to pitch. Inning to inning. Season to season.

Nicknames are baseball, names like Zeke and Pie and Kiki and Home Run and Cracker and Dizzy and Dazzy.

Baseball is a lot like life. It's a day-to-day existence, full of ups and downs. You make the most of your opportunities in baseball as you do in life.

It's been a terrific life.

I deeply appreciate the people of Michigan. I love their grit. I love the way they face life. I love the family values they have.

Why the fairy tale of Willie Mays making a brilliant World Series catch, and then dashing off to play stickball in the street with his teenage pals. That’s baseball. So is the husky voice of a doomed Lou Gehrig saying, ‘I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of this earth.’