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Going back down to the minors is the toughest thing to handle in baseball.

If you're in the minor leagues, you want to get to the majors.

If you go back to the minors, you have to start swinging and hitting the ball again. I've been in the minors since the '70s semipros, let's put it that way.

I enjoyed hitting in the Major Leagues more than in the Minor Leagues. I didn't want to tell anybody it was easier, because I didn't want to sound cocky. But Major League pitchers had better control, and most of them were around the plate.

Once you make the majors, it's never a great feeling to go back to the minors - no matter what the circumstances.

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.

Any time you're in the coaching business or managing in the minor leagues, when you see a player who has made it to the major leagues, you get a thrill out of that.

Your first responsibility is to the organization, to teach and prepare players to get to the big leagues and have them ready when they get there, but everyone in the minors wants to be in the majors.

My message to a lot of guys is, if you like school and you like education, baseball is gonna be there, and you can get some of the same great competition in college that you do in the low minor leagues.

When you're a kid growing up, you say you want to make it to the Major Leagues, and when you reach that dream, that's what it's all about.