I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.

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.

Defense to me is the key to playing baseball.

I would try and help everybody, because the game was so easy for me. It was just like walking in the park.

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

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.

What you are thinking, what shape your mind is in, is what makes the biggest difference of all.