If I didn't have a scholarship to go to the University of Florida or any school, I probably would have considered the military because my family could not afford to send me to college.
I wanted to retire after I played for the Mets. My family said wait one year, that there was no need to rush it. I gave it a year and now it's time to say goodbye.
When I retired, I really wanted to spend time with my family and kids. Coaching would have prevented that due to the commitment of the job and travel that goes with it, too.
The whole thing means such a great deal for me, and hopefully one day it will be there. But my friends and my family mean a little more. I would rather be helping them, even if it hurts that.
Of course, my family has been a big reason for me to come back, especially my son who loves the game of hockey - he was a big reason for me coming back.
It's a tremendous honor. It really is a privilege, not just a right. You're in the NFL and you wear the shield now. It means the world to me; it really is a special feeling, and my family's gotten a real kick out of it.
One thing I know in baseball is you should never be comfortable where you are. It doesn't matter who you are. It's a business. If I got traded tomorrow, no hard feelings; it's a business.
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 watch every day when we hit and take ground balls and the way we go about our business. If I saw any lackadaisical approach, that would concern me.
That's the awesome part. Little girls now have a chance to look up and see women playing soccer, basketball, softball and now hockey - and know they can win a gold medal, too.
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.
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.
It was very much like Norman Rockwell: small town America. We walked to school or rode our bikes, stopped at the penny candy store on the way home from school, skated on the pond.
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.
Even professional, paid carers aren't always models of saintly behaviour - and they know they can knock off at the end of their shift to go home, take an uninterrupted shower, and have a normal conversation with someone.
My dad and all my family were into baseball. His brothers, my mom's brothers, my mom's father. Baseball was just always a part of our family.
My message to a lot of guys is, if you like school and you like education, baseball is gonna be there, and you can get some of the same great competition in college that you do in the low minor leagues.
I talk to student-athletes. I try to get them to remember that they're not just athletes, but student-athletes. You need to get an education, keep your hands clean and try to represent the university.
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.
NFL cheerleading is harder than most people think. They train up to six hours every day with games on Sundays. They gave me a great work ethic.
Reading isn't good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn't hit home runs. So I gave up reading.
