I know a lot of people on the field - players, coaches, managers - are glad that I'm gone.

No, I don't think my presence will cause an increase in black attendance at Cleveland. People come out to see the players. When do you see a manager anyway? When he's out on the field arguing with the umpires, making a fool of himself and you know you can't win, and when he brings out the line-up card.

Whether you're trying to excel in athletics or in any other field, always practice. Look, listen, learn - and practice, practice, practice. There is no substitute for work, no shortcut to the top.

All in all, I wouldn't call it a bad outing. It was a short outing.

But I'm not going to walk Barry Bonds, like some teams do, in the first inning with nobody on.

If the guys on the bench were as good as the guys you have out there, they'd be out there in first place.

Probably the most dramatic change in pitching I've observed in my years in baseball has been the disappearance of the knockdown or brushback pitch. This is why record numbers of home runs are flying out of ballparks, why earned run averages are soaring, and why there are so few twenty game winners in the majors.