Nobody wanted me. Scouts told me to go to school, to forget baseball. Coaches said, 'You're never going to make it.' I appreciated their honesty, because I think when someone tells you something you may not like, you have to use that as fuel for motivation.
It's easy for me not to go to Mass on the road. But I've made a fundamental decision. I'm going to be dedicated. I'm going to make the time. I'm going to get up, if that means getting up at seven on a Sunday morning before a day game and do it, I'm going to do it.
I'm not trying to prove anybody wrong, I'm just trying to prove something to myself.
I'm playing baseball because I love it, not because I need the money or attention. That is why I've been so dedicated. I've accomplished a lot of things no one ever thought I could, and I've done it from hard work.
A pitcher never gets me out. I get myself out. That's no disrespect to the pitcher, but there should be no excuse for failure. You can't have an excuse to fail.
I was a last round draft pick. Nobody wanted me. I could count the amount of scouts that told me to go to school, to forget baseball.
I found it hugely insulting that people believed I'd go so far out of my way - living with Playmates, vacationing with actresses, showing up at nightclubs - to act out a lifestyle that would amount to a charade. If I was gay, I'd be gay all the way.
Never let your dreams go away.
I feel pretty good. My body actually looks like an old banana, but it's fine.
You can't get real happy or real depressed when you play baseball. Baseball is a great sport in that it offers a player a lot of opportunities for atonement.
I long for the days when athletes were revered. I want to see the romance return to sports, to see people enjoy the game purely for the game and the players.
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.
When you're 25, you can eat hamburgers and pizza and drink beer and stay out all night and come out the next day and drink a couple cups of coffee and just play. If I did that today, my heart would stop and I'd need a stretcher and an IV.
Please don't quote me.
One thing anyone can go through is a slump. Unless you're Greg Maddux, it's going to happen to everybody.
When he (Roger Clemens) threw the bat (during Game 2 of the 2000 World Series), I basically walked out and kept asking him what his problem was. He really had no response. I was trying to figure out whether it was intentional or not. I was going to ask him. If it was, then obviously he really no had response. I was more shocked and confused than anything.
I have gone from a player who thought he would spend his whole career with one organization to a player who's been with three organizations in a week. It's like rotisserie baseball.
