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A ball player has to be kept hungry to become a big leaguer. That's why no boy from a rich family has ever made the big leagues.

You have to hit the fastball to play in the big leagues.

I always wanted to be a major-league baseball player.

I like the ball in a big game. I'm not afraid to take it.

A great ballplayer is a player who will take a chance.

Today's Little Leaguers, and there are millions of them each year, pick up how to hit and throw and field just by watching games on TV. By the time they're out of high school, the good ones are almost ready to play professional ball.

I played ball for the Hollywood Blues of the Pacific Coast League, and I thought I was going to be a major leaguer. But I was the only one who seemed to think so.

That's the beautiful thing about baseball. You can be any size and be successful.

Finally, for all of us but a lucky few, the dream of playing big-time baseball is relinquished so we can get on with grown-up things.

It's amazing to be able to play the sport that I grew up loving so much and that I have a strong passion for. I'm just having a ball. There's a lot of pressure that comes with being in the spotlight and being a superstar and a role model, but I'm enjoying it.