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Spring Training is a fun time for me.
I approach spring training the same way every year.
Instead of going to spring training, I went to basic training.
Fighting for a job - that's been my mindset every Spring Training.
I've kind of looked at my whole career as a spring training invite.
I've always approached spring training as I have something to prove.
I love playing this game and every spring training feels like the first.
I either do really well in spring training, or I suck. I either hit .350 or .150.
You mean guys don't get injured in spring training? Guys get hurt walking down the street.
Until spring training in 1946, the only time I pitched was in 1945 in the GI World Series.
Just kind of finding it, that's what Spring Training is for, to work on stuff and get ready.
We don't just say this every spring training - 'Playoffs, World Series.' You've got to do it.
People who write about spring training not being necessary have never tried to throw a baseball.
Before I pitch any game, from spring training to Game 7 of the World Series, I'm scared to death.
It all comes down to when spring training comes. Do you want to go or don't you? If you want to go, you go.
I come to spring training and just try to do my job, try to do the best I can. That's all any player can do.
A young ballplayer looks on his first spring training trip as a stage struck young woman regards the theater.
You're just trying to work on things in Spring Training, try to put the barrel on the ball and not peak too early.
I'm usually rough during Spring Training. My Spring Training numbers aren't very good, but I never expect them to be.
Mickey Mantle was a very good golfer, but we weren't allowed to play golf during the season; only at spring training.
I hate the cursed Oriole fundamentals... I've been doing them since 1964. I do them in my sleep. I hate spring training.
None of the teams that actually probably were offering me a job from the getgo, actually in spring training, are in the playoffs right now.
These days baseball is different. You come to spring training, you get your legs ready, you arms loose, your agents ready, your lawyer lined up.
I love baseball. I'll probably end up one of those old farts who go to spring training in Florida every year and drive from game to game all day.
That's why, to me, Spring Training is so hard, because every time you go up there, there's a new pitcher, and you have to come up with a new plan.
For some reason in Spring Training, everything just clicked. You don't try to do anything in Spring Training but get ready, but things fell into place.
It's hard for a shortstop to play with a guy you don't know in the middle of the season. If you know a guy early in spring training, you're working with them.
It's the fans that need spring training. You gotta get 'em interested. Wake 'em up and let 'em know that their season is coming, the good times are gonna roll.
If I don't make the team out of spring training, I'll keep a good attitude. I'll just go polish up the parts of my game that made me not stay in the big leagues.
The last two times I went to spring training, I had to win a job, and if I didn't get off to a blazing start, I'm on the bench. Now, I've proven myself, so it's not essential that I get off to a real good start.
The Florida State League was considered the top A-league back then. You played in the spring training parks of major league teams, traveled throughout some great cities in Florida, and the pay was the best in A-ball.
In spring training, I just try to spread everything out so I can be 100 percent before the season starts. I don't want to start feeling like I don't get it once the season starts. I want to be 100 percent on Opening Day.
I got to the big leagues when I was 20. I thought I had it all figured out. Went to spring training that next year and started off well, got sent down, and I pouted pretty much all of 2000. And it wasn't the right way to handle it.
When I was young, it was fun being in the locker room and shagging balls in the outfield in spring training. But I couldn't keep my attention on the games for more than 30 minutes. I would sit there with my Game Boy the whole game.
I got that nickname my first spring training camp with the Expos in 1974. Tim Foli, Ken Singleton and Mike Jorgensen started calling me 'Kid' because I was trying to win every sprint. I was trying to hit every pitch out of the park.
I always appreciated the ex-players. Being a Yankee, you get spoiled. Old-Timers Day, all these guys coming back, spring training, being around them, you get a chance to get to know them. So I always think you learn a lot by listening.
I had only played five games in my senior year in high school. I was not large enough. Hell, when I graduated, I was about five foot four and weighed 120 pounds. I didn't go with the Dodgers until spring training of 1940 and I weighed all of 155 pounds soaking wet.
Get your work in, do what you need do, and get back up top. I'm a little bit behind the curve as far as not really having a spring training, so you're trying to get your work in, trying to work on things, and at the same time, you're also going out there trying to be competitive.
As far as sleeping goes, you're up and ready to go at six in the morning. Spring training was always a combination of relaxing and working, and I missed that quite a bit. I missed being around the ball field. A baseball. A bat. The smell of the uniform, you might say. Talking baseball. Seeing opponents as well as the Cubs.