Quote

I have been blessed to win a number of awards and be involved in numerous historical baseball moments over my 20-year career with the Los Angeles Dodgers and San Diego Padres.

And then when I went to stay in '68, I can honestly say that I was not focused on my career and on what it took to be a major league pitcher and to be a starting pitcher.

And then 45 years later, as I finished my career in the great city of Cleveland, that was another great way to end my career, going to the World Series.

My baseball career was a long, long initiation into a single secret: At the heart of all things is love.

I was a professional athlete, the best baseball player in the world at one point.

By far, the best moment of my big league career was when I caught the last out at the World Series.

When I came into baseball, I had one goal for my career - the Hall of Fame.

I was always interested in baseball. In fact, in my younger years, I played it in an amateur way. But up to the time when I became identified with the Yankees, I was a strong National League rooter.

I'm glad that I just played baseball, because I'm sure I had a much longer baseball career than I would've had a football career. I did miss football, but I didn't miss some of the injuries from football.

I had a successful career: not necessarily a Hall of Fame career, but a successful one.