I won twenty-eight games in thirty-five and I couldn't believe my eyes when the Cards sent me a contract with a cut in salary. Mr Rickey said I deserved a cut because I didn't win thirty games.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
I can only guess that, for guys in their 30s and 40s who watched me play, they understood that the score never mattered and my paycheck never mattered (in relation) to how I played. I played with Little League enthusiasm and professional flair. That's what fans are really looking for.
I lost money, coaching jobs, a shot at the Hall of Fame.
I didn't make enough money in my sport to retire.
I came into the game when I broke into the major leagues, the minimum salary was seven thousand dollars, and I'd have to go home in the wintertime and get a job.
I could have played another year, but I would have been playing for the money, and baseball deserves better than that.
I didn't think I'd be getting a contract at 34. That wasn't in my mind.
Well, I wanted to play twenty years in the major leagues. I never made it twenty though. I played nineteen.
I think when Kevin Nash put himself on the booking committee and then gave me my first loss, that was beginning of the end.
I didn't have a big-time contract out of college like most athletes. In fact I had no contract at all.
When I signed a contract, I was here to play 162 games.