“I think my mom and dad did a great job with that, because we [with brother] never had any competition in baseball. We always tried to help each other.”

Barack Obama likes to point to General Motors as the poster child for the job creation success of his economic policies.

My dad and my mom had to sacrifice so much, and had to teach us and show us the way of going about things, how to be humble, all those things. They helped us stay on track for what we wanted to do.

You have to have a lot of motivation, a lot of heart and be able to work hard. You can never be down on yourself because baseball is a sport that will bring you down [at times].

When I got to the stadium, one of my biggest things was watching video of hitters.

I liked playing with David Eckstein (former Angels shortstop). I’m not talking about players with top skills, I’m sure there were players with way more skill than him, but there were very few people in the league that had the heart like him.

If you’re a pitcher and strike me out and show me respect and you don’t show me up, when I get a homer or a hit, I’m not going to show you up. That’s what I believe.

I was very nervous, excited, and happy to be given the opportunity to even be in the major leagues.

There’s a lot of disrespect in the major leagues. I believe that the disrespect in the major leagues is at a high rate and is really bad for the gam

I ain’t ever had a job, I just always played baseball.

If you’re playing baseball and thinking about managing, you’re crazy. You’d be better off thinking about being an owner.

No baseball pitcher would be worth a darn without a catcher who could handle the hot fastball.

Being with a woman all night never hurt no professional baseball player. It’s staying up all night looking for a woman that does him in.

There are three things you can do in a baseball game. You can win, or you can lose, or it can rain.

I used to soak my mitts in a bucket of water for about two days. Then I’d put a couple of baseballs in the pocket and wrap it up with a rubber band.

I knew when my career was over. In 1965 my baseball card came out with no picture.

Today you don’t have to do that, because catchers’ mitts are more like first baseman’s gloves.