It isn't hard to be good from time to time in sports. What is tough, is being good every day.

Baseball is a game, yes. It is also a business.

I was very fortunate to play sports. All the anger in me went out. I had to do what I had to do. If you stay angry all the time, then you really don't have a good life.

Maybe I was born to play ball. Maybe I truly was.

I remember the last season I played. I went home after a ballgame one day, lay down on my bed, and tears came to my eyes. How can you explain that? It's like crying for your mother after she's gone. You cry because you love her. I cried, I guess, because I loved baseball, and I knew I had to leave it.

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.

Yes, I had to learn how to live life outside, but I had so many people help me.