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I just felt all along that if I could get a certain amount of years in the league, have great years and still have my health when I walked away, that would be great.

I had an addiction to play baseball.

Every day I went to the ballpark in Yankee Stadium as well as on the road people were on my back. The last six years in the American League were mental hell for me. I was drained of all my desire to play baseball.

There were a lot of players who worked just as hard as I did, and if you didn't, you didn't stay in the big leagues.

I can honestly say it took two full years for me to get over the fact that I was no longer a baseball player.

Any professional league that goes on strike right now - that's just suicide.

I was showing early symptoms of becoming a professional baseball man. I was lying to the press.

Life is so fast. And I still remember when I came up to the big leagues and played as if it were yesterday. Time flies.

I feel as though I've proved myself these last five years that I can be one of the top players in the league.

But sports carried me away from being in a gang, or being associated with drugs. Sports was my way out.