RYNE SANDBERG

If this validates anything, it's that learning how to bunt and hit and run and turning two is more important than knowing where to find the little red light at the dug out camera.

I think sometimes Hall of Famers might get labeled as guys who aren't suited for a coaching job or to be back at the Major League level.

I was taught you never, ever disrespect your opponent or your teammates or your organization or your manager and never, ever your uniform.

I love to play baseball. I'm a baseball player. I've always been a baseball player. I'm still a baseball player. That's who I am.

Baseball wasn't easy for me.

If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.

When did it - When did it become okay for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?

It didn't happen, but I feel fortunate for the two chances we had and it's just a shame we didn't go to a World Series for Cub fans.

I never forgot the four years I spent with the Phillies, my September call-ups and my big league Spring Trainings. I never forgot that.

If you played the game the right way, played the game for the team, good things would happen.

My wife Margaret is the best thing that's ever happened to me.

I had too much respect for the game to leave it behind or to make it my second or third sport in college.

I got into pro ball at 18 and played until I was almost 39, non-stop.

I was in the postseason twice and I'm thankful for that.

I don't expect any red carpet to the big leagues. If the opportunity comes, then it comes. But I don't think I'm owed anything.

No player in baseball history worked harder, suffered more, or did it better than Andre Dawson. He's the best I've ever seen.

Hit a home run - put your head down, drop the bat, run around the bases, because the name on the front is more - a lot more important than the name on the back.

There was Shawon Dunston and Mark Grace, and together we were a double play combination for ten years.

I was in awe every time I walked on to the field.

My mom was at every single game I played as a kid, rain or shine.

At my growing years of 18 to 21 years old in the Minor Leagues, I dreamed of being a Philadelphia Phillie.

I learned a lot in the Minor Leagues, spending six years there. I honed my skills, as far as coaching goes. I was able to work with the players in a lot of facets of the game.

I was taught coming up in the Phillies organization to be seen and not heard by people like Pete Rose, my hero growing up, and players like Mike Schmidt and Steve Carlton and Manny Trillo.

I didn't play the game right because I saw a reward at the end of the tunnel.

I was a baseball player at North Central High School in Spokane, Washington even though I was all-city in basketball, even when I signed a letter of intent to play quarterback at Washington State.