" As soon as I got out there I felt a strange relationship with the pitcher's mound. It was as if I'd been born out there. Pitching just felt like the most natural thing in the world. Striking out batters was easy."

"The only real game, I think, in the world is baseball."

"All I can tell them is pick a good one and sock it. I get back to the dugout and they ask me what it was I hit and I tell them I don't know except it looked good."

"Watch my dust."

"Every strike brings me closer to the next home run."

"Never let the fear of striking out get in your way."

"It's hard to beat a person who never gives up."

"The way a team plays as a whole determines its success. You may have the greatest bunch of individual stars in the world, but if they don't play together, the club won't be worth a dime."

"Just one (superstition). Whenever I hit a home run, I make certain I touch all four bases."

"How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball...The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can."

"Baseball was, is and always will be to me the best game in the world."