Switching to the outfield was the best break I ever got.
At 21, I'm too young to be considered just a defensive outfielder.
I wanted to be a second baseman for the Chicago Cubs. Problem is that my athletic abilities in my mind are greater than what my body can accomplish.
I made the varsity team as a freshman at 15. Then, I tore a tendon and never fully recovered. I was a shortstop, then third baseman, then second baseman.
The shortstop is a perfectly conditioned athlete. You're running out on relays all the time. You're covering second base. On every pitch, you're moving.
A pitcher is not a ballplayer.
I was for a short time on the baseball team as shortstop, where I was not so good.
A catcher must want to catch. He must make up his mind that it isn't the terrible job it is painted, and that he isn't going to say every day, 'Why, oh why with so many other positions in baseball did I take up this one.'
Joe Torre, who switched to first base because he didn't want to go through life as Chicken Catcher Torre. Never got a dinner!
I thought I was a pretty good shortstop, but I also wanted to play in the major leagues.
Oh, to be a center fielder, a center fielder- and nothing more
