I was only a gun captain on the battleship Alabama for 34 months. People have called me a hero for that, but I'll tell you this - heroes don't come home. Survivors come home.
We have an obligation to spread amateur baseball both at home and abroad. Building up the game at all levels - Little League, Babe Ruth Leagues, the colleges - is in our own self-interest. That's where the pool of talent is - and also of fans.
Stealing bases is just something I like to do. I figure if I can hit home runs and steal bases, I'd be different than everybody else.
As a supporter of the Prostate Cancer Foundation and their Home Run Challenge program, I am extremely grateful for the valuable partnerships and relationships built with Major League Baseball and our affiliates.
In baseball you hit your home run over the right-field fence, the left-field fence, the center-field fence. Nobody cares. In golf everything has got to be right over second base.
Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, 'Sure, every time.'
My closet is in perfect order at home. All my dress shirts, all my casual shirts. All my suits, they're color coordinated. All my ties are color coordinated.
I'm not defined by baseball. I'd love for the Hall of Fame to happen, but if it doesn't, my life won't change. I'll still be coaching my boy's games.
College baseball, I love it. I love to work with the younger kids who are trying to live out their dreams, if in fact that's what they plan on doing after college to take the next step.
You give us the pitching some of these clubs have and no one could touch us, but God has a way of not arranging that, because it's not as much fun.
New York is great, but the New England fans are probably the most knowledgeable and ardent fans, and not just in baseball, but all sports. But Red Sox Nation is Red Sox Nation.
We all obviously need others to look up to, and be inspirational to us. Ford did a great job as far as putting the presidency back where it belonged, getting the trust back after Nixon. And President Reagan has been one of the most influential presid...
It's good to know you're working for someone you're familiar with, who's a friend and he has your back and you have his back also.
Professionalism is not sportsmanship. If you don't succeed, you won't be in your profession for long. In our society, it's not about good or bad. It's about who's on top.
I'm a good person. I don't wish hateful things on people. I don't hate anybody. I know that I treat people right.
I'm the kind of a player who, if you give me something good to hit, I'm going to swing at it. Otherwise, there's nothing else you can do.
It takes a lot of dedication to quit smoking, and whether you give up for good on your first try or have to give it a couple of tries - just keep swinging at it and you will succeed.
You spend a good piece of your life gripping a baseball and in the end it turns out that it was the other way around all the time.
No club that wins a pennant once is an outstanding club. One which bunches two pennants is a good club. But a team which can win three in a row really achieves greatness.
When you've been in the game as long as I have, you know the managers you've played for, the good ones and the bad ones. Even the good ones get fired.
Everyone has someone they looked up to. Mine was Mickey Mantle. For Alex Rodriguez to idolize me coming up, that makes me feel very good.
