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.

People striving for approval from others become phony.

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.

If I'm in a slump, I ask myself for advice.

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'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.

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