I was a ballplayer but only for a limited time. I grew up playing in Wisconsin. It's a very sports-centric part of the country that I grew up in and I played a lot of sports but baseball first and foremost. I played through high school. I was a middle-infielder.

The difference between the old ballplayer and the new ballplayer is the jersey. The old ballplayer cared about the name on the front. The new ballplayer cares about the name on the back.

I haven't seen a player in this game as long as I've been in it that can't be pitched to... Barry is an outstanding ballplayer. I respect him an awful lot. I also have confidence in my pitchers that they can pitch to Barry Bonds and get him out.

I tried marriage. I'm 0 for 3 with the marriage thing. So being a ballplayer - I believe in numbers. I'm not going 0 for 4. I'm not wearing a golden sombrero.

I refuse to be molded into some stereotypical ballplayer that has no interests really no life no depth no intelligence.

Reading isn't good for a ballplayer. Not good for his eyes. If my eyes went bad even a little bit I couldn't hit home runs. So I gave up reading.

The only real happiness a ballplayer has is when he is playing a ball game and accomplishes something he didn't think he could do.

The ballplayer who loses his head who can't keep his cool is worse than no ballplayer at all.

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.