Obviously I wasn't playing well at the time. But as a player, you lie to yourself. You say, "There's nothing wrong. I'm just not on time [at the plate]." You make something else up because pain is not an option.

If I could even do that [playing] in a softball league, I would never miss anything about baseball.

I thought it might be a cool thing [food show] to do when I retired a few years later. Then retirement came slightly prematurely.

I play to lift a city, and raise a banner.

My main goal now is waking up healthy every day and going on with life.

Just because you're big doesn't mean you can't be an athlete. And just because you work out doesn't mean you're going to have a 12-pack.

It was pretty hard to actually have to say the words with my teammates, my wife and my boys there. I realized it was going to happen before that day [I announce retirement], but to have to announce it and talk about in front of a lot of people was tougher than I expected. I'm glad that feeling has kind of gone away. That sadness hasn't lingered.