Billy (Martin) was a great one for jokes. He liked to play a joke more than anyone I ever knew.

Watch the old man. Watch how the old man keeps the guys who aren't playing happy.

He said to play louder. He can't hear you.

Bravery is a complicated thing to describe. You can't say it's three feet long and two feet wide and that it weighs four hundred pounds or that it's colored bright blue or that it sounds like a piano or that it smells like roses. It's a quality, not a thing.

My dad taught me to switch-hit. He and my grandfather, who was left-handed, pitched to me every day after school in the back yard. I batted lefty against my dad and righty against my granddad.

I guess you could say I'm what this country is all about.

Not after all the time my dad spent teaching me to switch-hit.