In the movies, I never lost a fight. In baseball, I hardly ever won one.
There ain't much to being a ballplayer, if you're a ballplayer.
I'm not like a 90-mph fastball kind of guy, but I can hit 70 on radar gun. I hit 70 one time on a radar guy at one of those pitch-and-throw kind of things. I have a pretty good arm for somebody who's not a baseball player.
I was able to play alongside, in my opinion, the best hitter with Miguel Cabrera and kind of watch the way he goes about it and the way he looks at situations, when to try to drive a ball versus when to shoot a ball.
Cleaning up that lack of the definition between the two, and then leaning on the four-seam, having it become my primary fastball over my two-seam, it's just benefited me as a whole.
I'm so bad at baseball, I can't even hit now.
It's a round ball and a round bat, and you got to hit it square.
I played all sports growing up. Baseball was always my favorite, though.
That's how easy baseball was for me. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I had the knowledge before I became a professional baseball player to do all these things and know what each guy would hit.
There's so much difference having arm ability. You have to be able to throw it hard. You have to be able to throw it with touch. You have to be able to do everything in this league, and I try to get better at every single one of those throws every single day.
I don't believe there's a baseball job that I couldn't take care of.
Wiffle ball was my first experience hitting left-handed.
It was part of my recruiting to go to Cal because they knew I loved to play baseball. I don't know if I was good enough to make the team, but I worked out with the guys, and it was a lot of fun.
When I joined a baseball club, the boys of my own age, and a little older, played in the first nine, those younger than myself played in the second, and those still younger in the third, and I played with them.
There is no doubt that because I am a switch hitter I have one of the best offensive advantages that a hitter can have.
Brooks Robinson is not a fast man, but his arms and legs move very quickly.
Judging ballplayers and turning in reports, giving my opinion of who will get to the big leagues and who will not... I think my baseball judgment was really good.
People say I don't have great tools. They say that I can't throw like Ellis Valentine or run like Tim Raines or hit with power like Mike Schmidt. Who can? I make up for it in other ways, by putting out a little bit more. That's my theory, to go through life hustling. In the big leagues, hustle usually means being in the right place at the right time. It means backing up a base. It means backing up your teammate. It means taking that headfirst slide. It means doing everything you can do to win a baseball game.
I've got a high-school swing. I know that. But you know what? It's good enough to get a ball in play.
I consciously memorized the speed at which every pitcher in the league threw his fastball, curve, and slider. Then, I'd pick up the speed of the ball in the first 30 feet of its flight and knew how it would move once it has crossed the plate.
The hardest thing to do in baseball is to hit a round baseball with a round bat, squarely.
I know I can hit. My defense has been there. I'm trying to show what I can do on the basepaths as well.
I had the pleasure, as Robin said, to live a childhood dream as many young Americans and Puerto Rican children live that play youth baseball. And I feel honored and very thankful for that opportunity.
Let the teachers learn the kids English. Ol' Diz will learn the kids baseball.
You never really know baseball until you put on a pair of cleats and get out and play it; and if you play for five years, you still don't really know what it's about.
