Stay away from drugs and alcohol. Listen to your moms and dads. In this great country of ours you do whatever you set your mind to. Make us proud of you.

A-Rod don't want to be the straw that stirs the drink. He want to be known as a fair guy who goes out and help a team to win a pennant. He's a great guy.

I used to stand in front of the mirror and listen to Hezekiah Walker all day. I thought I was a member of his choir and direct people that weren't there.

When I was playing, my wife and kids would go on the road with me, and we would go to different lunch spots that we saw on "Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives."

A lot of people probably say I'm stupid, and they're probably right, because there are people who take days off who are still in the league, and I'm not.

Yes, but I - you know, it's been such a long time, I'm sure that I've got cousins and uncles that I've never met before, you know, that I've left behind.

Just because I believed in what I was doing on the field and dedicated myself to playing the game, does that mean I'm cocky? Does that mean I'm arrogant?

When I look back at the tapes, your first everything, your first All-Star Game, your first playoff experience, it just seems like it went by really fast.

Back in my day, we didn't think about money as much. We enjoyed playing the game. We loved baseball. I didn't think about anybody else but the Cardinals.

I'm pretty much right on schedule. Start off slow, finish up strong. I don't know why everyone panics. I've been doing this for ten years now. Why change?

If (Mike) Hargrove was his own man, I would have been picked (for the 1998 All-Star team). He is another person who doesn't appreciate what I did for him.

When you're not at the top of your game and you feel like the other team is laughing and embarrassing you by doing certain things, it's time to retaliate.

Most of the managers are lifetime .220 hitters. For years pitchers have been getting these managers out 75% of the time and that's why they don't like us.

Anybody with ability can play in the big leagues. But to be able to trick people year in and year out the way I did, I think that was a much greater feat.

I don't care if I was a ditch-digger at a dollar a day, I'd want to do my job better than the fellow next to me. I'd want to be the best at whatever I do.

I had aches and pains when I played. No player is ever 100 percent, 80 percent, 85 percent. Guys that play 158 or 162 or 145, we are all in the same boat.

I get paid a bunch of money to do this, and so there's a responsibility to my teammates, every single day, to show up and be the absolute best you can be.

So many people are insanely busy nowadays, and it's easy to say, 'Ah, I'll workout tomorrow.' But you have to set aside a time and stick to that schedule.

Playing baseball is fun. If I could play, I'd never retire. But managing is work. It's constant decisions of whose feelings you want to hurt all the time.

You never know how your skills are going to play out at the next level. But I knew I had a lot of doubles and I was capable of driving the ball into gaps.

I'm a ballplayer. I know how hard the game is... and anybody that makes it in the Hall of Fame, I support. They become a member of our special fraternity.

A lot of long relievers are ashamed to tell their parents what they do. The only nice thing about it is that you get to wear a uniform like everbody else.

... I want the world to know that people like me who have returned from the half-world of mental oblivion are not forever contaminated. We have been sick.

Kids are our future, and we hope baseball has given them some idea of what it is to live together and how we can get along, whether you be black or white.

I'm not a headline guy. I know that as long as I was following Ruth to the plate I could have stood on my head and no one would have known the difference.

I know what kind of pitcher Whitey was, and I know what kind of person Whitey is. It makes me feel proud to be a Yankee. We're keeping this in the family.

In '83, we went over to Amsterdam. I just remember people saying, 'Baseball's just starting over here. They're learning how to play the game of baseball.'

The only team that could have competed with us was the Cubans. It's too bad they're boycotting. The teams we're playing just can't compete with our power.

I don't do stuff to be a star. I do it because I feel it's important for kids, African American kids, to see an African American face that plays baseball.

People expect you to play your best, so I go through a routine to prepare myself so that I know I'm physically and mentally ready - prepared for the game.

I always say, the only time you gotta worry about getting booed is when you're wearing a white uniform. And I've never been booed wearing a white uniform.

The game has a cleanness. If you do a good job, the numbers say so. You don't have to ask anyone or play politics. You don't have to wait for the reviews.

My wife tells me one day, 'I think you love baseball more than me.' I say, 'Well, I guess that's true, but hey, I love you more than football and hockey.'

I mean, I think we are a better team than last year offensively, but there is always a question with the Minnesota Twins. We'll just have to wait and see.

I'm not afraid to swing the bat. If they elect to pitch to me, I'm going to swing. I'm not as picky as Mr. Sheffield. I'll swing at something over my head.

When I played, I never needed the spotlight, nor did I want it. I simply wanted to play baseball and be respected by my teammates and the opposing players.

All of the charities we're involved with have touched me in one way or another on a personal level. There are about eight or nine charities that I support.

What is happiness to me is not necessarily for you. Someone once said, there are three truths: your truth, my truth and the truth. And I think that's true.

I am a big guy and happen to play a position that requires you to be relatively quick. I can't let up now. I have to work every day to be better next year.

The first thing baseball wants to do is make you a superstar and then say that you owe baseball something. I don't owe baseball anything. Baseball owes me.

At Tiger Stadium, the dugouts are so low that you walk in and hit your head on the ceiling. People would say, 'Don't feel bad. Ty Cobb did the same thing.'

They wanted me to lead these young players, teach them the way to compete, when the only thing I should be worried about is how I'm performing in the game.

It's always the same, Combs walks, Koening singles, Ruth hits one out of the park, Gehrig doubles, Lazzeri triples. Then Dugan goes in the dirt on his can.

We all pulled together at the right time, unfortunately, we were down 3-0 to the Yankees when we decided to do it, but we did it. And we shocked the world.

We're just being ourselves and having fun playing baseball. The biggest thing is when people look at our team, they can see that we're having a lot of fun.

You're always trying to seize any opportunity or hold on to one if you already have it. It was just a matter of going out there and producing for the team.

The steroids I did were on a very, very low dosage. I didn't want to take a lot of that. I didn't want to look like Arnold Schwartzenegger or Lou Ferrigno.

There's so many great things I learned at Mizzou. I took a sports psychology class. It was kind of eye-opening on certain different ways to look at things.

I was always told that if people don't want a picture with you, or they don't want an autograph from you, that doesn't mean you're not doing anything good.

Every time I step up to the plate, I expect to get a hit. If I don't expect to get a hit, I have no right to step into the batter's box in the first place.

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