If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.

As professionals we have a responsibility of providing a good show for the fans. Getting hits and home runs is what they want to see.

I love baseball, but being here (in the United States), I've been able to play golf every day. I can't play in Japan because every course has caddies, and the caddies all want autographs and don't want to let me golf.

I wanted the challenge of competing against the best players in the world.

If I ever saw myself saying I'm excited going to Cleveland, I'd punch myself in the face, because I'm lying.

I'm not a big guy and hopefully kids could look at me and see that I'm not muscular and not physically imposing, that I'm just a regular guy. So if somebody with a regular body can get into the record books, kids can look at that. That would make me happy.

When I look at the records and see where my place in the history of the game (in Japan with Orix) might be, I guess you could say it was a good decision to come here. It's not just me. Maybe I'll have an effect on others in the international part of the game.