My father used to play with my brother and me in the yard. Mother would come out and say, "You're tearing up the grass." "We're not raising grass," Dad would reply. "We're raising boys."
In baseball, you pack your uniform in the clubhouse after a ball game, and you see it hanging up in your locker when you get to your next city.
There was a time when rival teams used a shift against me. They would put the second baseman on the shortstop's side of the bag, move the shortstop into the hole to his right, and have the third baseman hug the foul line. The idea was to build an infield wall against a known right-handed pull hitter.
I didn't think much about batting average when I was playing.
When I was 14, and for the next four years, I was lifting and hauling 10-gallon milk cans full of milk. That will put muscles on you even if you're not trying.
I always tried to watch the pitcher and his complete windup from the moment he had the ball in his glove all the way through his motion, and tried to follow it all the way out of his hand, all the way to home plate.
It must be nice for today's hitters when you don't have to worry about being thrown at. It's a whole different deal. When I played, getting knocked down was an accepted part of the game.
The people in the Upper Midwest were the same kind of people I grew up around in Idaho.
Hospice is such a tremendous thing. Patients seem to reach an inner peace.
The Mayo Clinic is one of the largest and most experienced medical centers treating esophageal cancer in the world.
No matter what, I've always been an optimistic person.
I was set to go to Oregon to play college baseball and football.
Pitchers are smart. They know they are much better off if they mix things up and keep you off-balance.
I'm not a quitter. All my career, I went through a lot of physical adversity, injuries. It's in my nature to be a battler.
Joe Mauer's the real deal. He is absolutely wonderful. Not only is he a great player, but he's a great human being. He's the kind of guy you'd like to see... be your son.
