Some people enjoy taking a light stroll in the morning and that gives them relief and that sort of feeling. That is what I gain by practicing, by swinging the bat.

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.

You should seek approval from yourself.

August in Kansas City is hotter than two rats f**king in a sock.

The Japanese have a strong tendency to suppress their own feelings. That's the Japanese character. They kill their own emotions.

When people get placed upon a pedestal - when they start chasing after that person on the pedestal - they become mannequin-like.

In baseball, even the best hitters fail seven of ten times, and of those seven failures there are different reasons why. Some are personal failures, others are losses to the pitcher. You just get beat. In those personal failures, I felt I could have done better.