“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.”

I like to be against the odds. I’m not afraid to be lonely at the top. With me, it’s just the satisfaction of the game. Just performance.

Every pitcher can beat you, it doesn’t matter how good you are.

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.

My career is an open book, but my life is not.

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’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 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 feel like making music because – and this has much to do with the way I was able to make this record – there’s more of myself in it.

I think these days, as an artist, you have to be slightly entrepreneurial. …Nobody really sells records anymore.

You don’t have to look a certain way to have a hit record.

The first records I heard were from Dizzy Gillespie and people like that.

I havent had a big hit record in America since 1987.

My school music teacher, Al Bennest, introduced me to jazz by playing Louis Armstrong’s record of “West End Blues” for me. I found more jazz on the radio, and began looking for records.

Every time I release an album my old record company releases another one.

I think it’s just a conglomerate of everybody’s influences that comes out on the record, and live as well.