Everything I've been through, everything I'm about to go through in my career and my life, if my family wasn't with me and didn't support me, it would be really tough.
When you make that crossover from life to real life, when you're not treated as a child anymore but as a man, and you are no longer given the benefit of the doubt, it takes some courage to face that.
If you have a chance to accomplish something that will make things better for people coming behind you, and you don't do that, you are wasting your time on this earth.
I had a chance to play for the Cuban national team during the 2009 World Baseball Classic, but at the time I never thought about leaving Cuba.
Somebody once asked me if I ever went up to the plate trying to hit a home run. I said, 'Sure, every time.'
People think of the greatest home run hitters of all time and think of Babe Ruth; they don't think about that Warren Spahn hit more than anybody.
I am what time, circumstance, history, have made of me, certainly, but I am also, much more than that. So are we all.
The history of horror movies goes back a long way... of people trying to convincingly be terrified when looking at a piece of tape on the side of the camera box. I have a whole new respect for it.
After Jackie Robinson the most important black in baseball history is Reggie Jackson, I really mean that.
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.
In 1950, when the Giants signed me, they gave me $15,000. I bought a 1950 Mercury. I couldn't drive, but I had it in the parking lot there, and everybody that could drive would drive the car. So it was like a community thing.
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.
I don't care what they say about me when I'm through with sports. I don't want to be known as anything else in life but a great father.
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.
I think I'm lucky in life and not just in football. I was very fortunate to play for a great organization and a great team that was really good near the end of my career.
First of all, what happens is, when you're good at something, you spend a lot of time with it. People identify you with that sport, so it becomes part of your identity.
Yes, hard is good. When I was in high school, I spent a lot of time on my knees playing with balls. I guess it was only natural that I became a catcher.
I've had a good time here in baseball. I love baseball. That's why I'm still around.
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.
I think I earned the players' respect, and that's the ultimate in life, isn't it? I didn't care if they liked me or disliked me, as long as I had their respect.
It's a lot like life. I think 99 percent of what goes on in life, we have very little control over.
