It's a completely different thing, but there's so many things I learned from being an athlete that helped me in business. The only risk is not taking the risk. You've got to take that step.
I like to think of the world's greatest athlete coming up to bat against me - Tiger Woods, Wayne Gretzky, I don't care who it is - and I'm looking at him thinking, you have no chance.
I totally understand that I am a little outrageous in some ways... I'm a little un-P.C., but I really wish I had the chance to perform for the American fans.
The chance of winning a Super Bowl in a city like New York, there's nothing like it. Once you win one, you get that bug to win another one, that edge.
When I started playing the game of baseball, the more I played and the better numbers I got, the more I started thinking about the Hall of Fame. But I never thought I had a chance to be there.
It's not like I'm looking for a blonde or a brunette, light-skinned or dark-skinned. I feel like I give any girl a fighting chance.
I was branded a Negro in the States and had to act accordingly. They wouldn't even give me a chance in the big leagues because I was a Negro, yet they accepted every other nationality under the sun.
Despite the situation in Cuba, I had a chance to play on the national team; and compared to other baseball players and other people in Cuba, I had the opportunity to live at a level that was not very high class but in the middle.
I'm a part of a program called Toyota's Engines of Change Program. The message is that anyone can make a difference in their community or for whatever cause they feel strongly about. Everyone can be an Engine of Change.
I think as you get older, you realize there's always going to be critics. Critics are going to win every time because they can change their critique based on the stats and their own personal feelings.
You have to change things in order to get to where you want to go. And things might get worse. But if you're not getting where you want to be, already, in a sense, it's as bad as it can get.
You play a certain way for so long, and change is good. So I look forward to change, and I look forward to playing with the proper talent that we were able to put together.
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.
Haiti was founded by African slaves who rose against their European masters, had a revolution, and created a new state. There is no other such event in Western history.
The history of African-American repression in this country rose from government-sanctioned racism. Jim Crow laws were a product of bigoted state and local governments.
It was Muddy Waters who took the Delta blues north to Chicago, electrified the sound, and changed the course of popular music as we know it. That's pretty much the judgment of history, and it is mine as well.
Some players are more physical than others, some play with more finesse. Some are just really great all-around players. So you have to change your game.
Especially in the car ride to and from gym. I find myself spacing out a lot, just visualizing what the Olympics would be like and just having such great role models.
I always appreciated my dad coming outside and playing with us - or my mom - and being a part of the game we were playing or refereeing it or just being outside. That was fun for us, and it was very encouraging.
My dad was part of the Oriole way. I think he was there 14 years in the minor leagues; I think seven of those years, they had the same people in place. So it was about continuity. It was about stability.
I can't remember a major league game where I could make eye contact with my dad. I kept wondering if he was going to yell at me for hanging a pitch or something.
