The biggest thrill a ballplayer can have is when your son takes after you. That happened when my Bobby was in his championship Little League game. He really showed me something. Struck out three times. Made an error that lost the game. Parents were throwing things at our car and swearing at us as we drove off. Gosh I was proud.

I think I'm actually quite a materialistic person I value what it takes to make a car or build a nice house. Money does change things but how it changes people depends on how they react to it.

You know what I really love? The CD players in a car. How when you put the CD right up by the slot it actually takes it out of your hand like it's hungry. It pulls it in and you feel like it wants more silver discs.

It's a lot of work to keep reinventing yourself and coming up with new stuff but that's what it takes to be in show business.

It's far too much to say that effective hoping is the only - or even the biggest - part of what it takes to succeed. If 14% of business productivity can be attributed to hope that means 86% is dependent on raw talent fickle business cycles the quality of the product you're selling and often pure dumb luck.

A couple of months ago I was down in Florida for the Food and Wine Festival. And this journalist grabbed me and said 'How does it feel to be a TV guy? You're no longer in the restaurant business.' And I laughed. I asked him 'How long do you think it takes me to do a season?' He said 'Well 200 days.' And I was like '200 days? Try 20!'

There's a terrible truth for many women in the picture business: Aging typically takes its toll and means fewer and less desirable roles.

One thing is certain in business. You and everyone around you will make mistakes.

In this business it takes time to be really good - and by that time you're obsolete.

Death is a billion-dollar business. They can't even pass a law where it takes seven days to get a gun. Why don't you have to go through the same kind of screening you do to get a driver's license? It's totally insane.