I think I was programmed to do good things when I came into the majors. I knew how to play.

If you can do that - if you run, hit, run the bases, hit with power, field, throw and do all other things that are part of the game - then you're a good ballplayer.

"And my father didn't have money for me to go to college. And at that particular time they didn't have black quarterbacks, and I don't think I could have made it in basketball, because I was only 5′ 11". So I just picked baseball."

I played with the Birmingham Black Barons. I was making 500 at 14. That was a lot of money in those days.

When I got to professional ball I used to play 150 games every year. It depends on how many games there was.

I think I was the best baseball player I ever saw.

One of the hardest parts of practice is the criticism a player takes from his coaches. Some players think a coach has it in for them when a flaw in style is pointed out ... I know that when things start going wrong, for one, I get the coach to keep his eye on me to see what I'm suddenly doing wrong. I can't see it or I wouldn't be doing it in the first place.