“I’d like to help educate kids about the Major Leagues – what to anticipate, what to expect, what they’ll need to do to prepare themselves.”

I don’t know if the record is going to happen. I don’t really think about the record. There are other things I worry about.

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.

There is nothing better than walking out and hitting a home run.

Sometimes I surprise my own damn self.

I have a chef who makes sure that I’m getting the right amounts of carbs, proteins and fats throughout the day to keep me at my max performance level.

I think everyone needs to be a role model, period.

If you want to be on top, you’ve got to have broad shoulders, because as fast as you get there, the faster they try to knock you down.

I think some of the pressure comes from the expectations of other people. Like if your father played baseball, they expect you to be the big lifesaver or something when you play a sport.

I like to be against the odds.

I never stop looking for things to try and make myself better.

Those boos really motivate me to make something happen.

Baseball is just my job.

I know when I’m off alignment. I know when my body is out of adjustment. If your body is there, then mentally, you’ll be there. If your body feels good, then your mind feels good and your are going to feel better about your game.

It’s a relief now to be able to stand next to my godfather and finally feel like I’ve accomplished something in the game of baseball.

I don’t know what you guys say, but at home, life is way different from baseball.

There’s not too many rich black people in this world.

I’ve always loved movies, since I was a little kid, but I never wanted to be part of that industry. It always seemed horrifying, the way films were made.

I’d love to travel more. I really look forward to traveling with my kids. I’m just waiting for them to want to travel with me.

I don’t have any great love for Chicago. What the hell, a childhood around Douglas Park isn’t very memorable. I remember the street fights and how you were afraid to cross the bridge ’cause the Irish kid on the other side would beat your head in. I left Chicago a long time ago.

Of course, the kids who had never heard of a person called Ben E. King were then aware of the name associated with the song. That gave a tremendous lift to me as an artist.

People think if they voted for somebody, they should reflexively defend everything they do or say. And if you voted against somebody, you should just as reflexively oppose everything they do or say. It’s not very helpful.

I love pasta with the homemade marinara sauce I had as a kid.

As a kid, I always idolized entrepreneurs. I thought they were cool people in the way that I thought basketball players were cool people. It’s cool that some people get paid to dunk basketballs, but I’m not one of those people.

To me the thing with ‘Grease’ was that it was the first movie that as a kid I wanted to get up and do what they were doing.