“But I love baseball and I love to play hard.”

He threw a lot of strikes, worked it inside and out, threw breaking balls for strikes behind in the count.

I’m not perfect. Nobody’s perfect.

No more excuses about being young.

Byrd has always been that kind of pitcher.

2004 has to be my year. No more excuses.

He threw hard, but a good fastball.

My only worry was that he didn’t throw me a sinker.

I work hard on my defense.

When you go to home plate with a lot of confidence,

I want to be consistent from the first day of the season to the last.

I love hitting-that’s my favorite part of the game.

I’m an immigrant myself.

I don’t like to play slow or softly.

You feel that you can hit any pitch.

I’m confident, but not so confident that I’m cocky.

It’s something I take pride in, but it’s nothing that I want to brag about. It’s part of my game.

I’m not like a 90-mph fastball kind of guy, but I can hit 70 on radar gun.

I’d never even been to Wrigley Field. I never even enjoyed baseball that much, but I loved being there, the crowd was lovely, and they all sang with me!

One theme that fascinates me is cognitive enhancement. It seems only a matter of time until we live in a world where steroids for the brain are readily available to all. And once we come to grips with that reality,

When I finish playing, I think I’d like to coach college baseball.

Before I was ever in my teens, I knew exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up. My goal was to be the greatest athlete that ever lived.

The feel of a good row stays with you hours afterward. Your muscles glow, your mind wanders from the papers on you desk and goes back, again and again, to that terrific power piece at the end of the workout when it felt as if you and the boat were flying.

I don’t know if steroids are going to help you in baseball. I just don’t believe it. I don’t believe steroids can help eye-hand coordination and technically hit a baseball.

Serra High school, to me, was my most enjoyable time for me in my entire life. That was the only time I was free. We just played baseball because it was fun.