My father - until the day that my dad died - didn't know how many points you scored in a touchdown. He could say there were nine innings in baseball, but no intricacies of the sport.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
My pitch count as a general rule was 135. And I knew how many pitches I had when I went to the mound for the last three innings.
When I was with the Yankees in 1978, we were playing Baltimore at Yankee Stadium, and the score was 3 - 3 going into the bottom of the ninth inning. I led off against Tippy Martinez - a little left-hander who always gave me trouble - and the count went to three-and-oh.
I remember one game when I pitched in Yankee Stadium and gave up five runs in the first inning. It would have been easy to quit, but I shut 'em out the rest of the way, and we came back and won the game.
In Little League back in Oklahoma, I struck out 14 batters in a six-inning game, and we won the state championship.
When did it - When did it become okay for someone to hit home runs and forget how to play the rest of the game?
I always could hit, but fielding I had to work at. I took as much pride in fielding as hitting. I became a complete ballplayer. I knew when to take the extra base. I knew about the outfielder hitting the cutoff man. I knew when and how to bunt. I knew when to hit-and-run.
In 2007, I hit 50 home runs. That was pretty cool. I never thought I'd be able to do that. At the time, I didn't even think it was that big of a deal for some reason. But now, looking back, I realize it was pretty cool.
When I came into baseball, I had one goal for my career - the Hall of Fame.
My dad was my coach in baseball and early on in basketball, so playing baseball was something we always did.
I knew at a young age, whether I was playing baseball or hockey or lacrosse, that my teammates were counting on me, whether it be to strike the last batter out in a baseball game or score a big goal in a hockey game.