I knew I'd never make it back to the major leagues as a player. Lee MacPhail came to me and asked if I wanted to manage the Yankees' Fort Lauderdale club. I thought about it for a day or two and decided to take the job. That was the turning point. I knew it was what I wanted to do.
The Oakland A's, I loved all my teammates there. I loved all the coaches. They gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues. And for that, I thank them. I mean it was a dream come true for me.
When I started playing the game of baseball, the more I played and the better numbers I got, the more I started thinking about the Hall of Fame. But I never thought I had a chance to be there.
When I was growing up, the first thing I wanted to be was a cowboy. That lasted till I was about ten. Then I wanted to be a baseball player. Preferably shortstop for the New York Yankees.
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.
When I was 15 years old, I used to actually dream I was pitching in Yankee Stadium. Bill Dickey was my catcher.
I always dreamed of making it in baseball, but life has moved pretty quickly for me.
When I was a kid, I dreamed of using a bat with my own name on it.
This is something I've wanted to do my whole life is play baseball, and I think just the opportunity to put on a big-league uniform every day is just... you know, people dream of it, but not everybody gets to do it. I'm thankful every day I get to do it.
I wanted to definitely be a musician or a good preacher or a heck of a baseball player. I couldn't play ball too good - I hurt my finger, and I stopped that. I couldn't preach, and well, all I had left was getting into the music thing.
My dad played for a coal-mining team in eastern Ohio; he was a very good pitcher. If he hadn't hurt his arm, he probably would have got a shot somewhere. He hurt his arm one spring, didn't warm up good enough, couldn't throw a fastball anymore. Another coal miner taught him how to throw the knuckleball.
I had dreams of catching the ball for the final out in the World Series and being mobbed by my teammates. Well, I guess all my dreams didn't come true.
I became a soldier, not because I had a military vocation initially, but because it was the only way that that young, poor-class child from the provinces could go to the center of the country: through baseball, which was my dream.
Always wanted to be a Major League player. Loved baseball. Followed it. Loved to play. Plus, I could always hit.
If I didn't make it in baseball, I won't have made it workin'. I didn't like to work.
I want to finish my career in Cleveland. They gave me the opportunity to play in the big leagues.
I'm just a poor boy from the cornfields of Richmond, Virginia. I'm proud because I loved baseball and played with the best.
Once you make the majors, it's never a great feeling to go back to the minors - no matter what the circumstances.
I'd like to think a baseball picture is somewhere in my future.
My father loved baseball and he cultivated my talent. I don't think he ever had any doubt in his mind that I would play professional baseball someday.
When I was a minor league player, my goal was to be a major leaguer. It's no different as a minor league manager.
One of my biggest gifts ever, my mother made a Yankee uniform for me as a little boy, and I wore it to bed dreaming I could pitch in the major leagues and then be a Yankee.
I don't want to be one of those great players who never made it to the Series.
I would say I was jock. I went to Sierra College. I was a big baseball player. Getting into the MLB was my dream - to become a left-handed pitcher for the Yankees. That's what I was hoping, but life kind of went the other way.
Everything with me is normal except when I pitch (in Fenway Park). When I pitch here it's a little different. There is a little more anxiety to go along with the nostalgia because this is the park I grew up with as a kid. This is the park I dreamed of playing Major League Baseball in and no other ballpark has that feeling for me. There are a lot more family and friends here than in my normal starts and I want to pitch well here.
