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"Everyone has a breaking point, turning point, stress point, the game is permeated with it. The fans don't see it because we make it look so efficient. But internally, for a guy to be successful, you have to be like a clock spring, wound but not loose at the same time."
"Good hitters don't just go up and swing. They always have a plan. Call it an educated deduction. You visualize. You're like a good negotiator. You know what you have, you know what he has, then you try to work it out."
"I guess I'm the only guy old enough to figure him (Nolan Ryan, 1-Hitter Game in 1991) out."
"I had been an American League fan, following the Minnesota Twins. Harmon Killebrew and Zoilo Versalles, they were my guys," Winfield recalled. "Zoilo [Versalles] because he was a shortstop and pitcher as a kid. The National Leaguers I heard about were Bob Gibson and Willie Mays. Now I was in left field and I didn't know any of the players. I was just bewildered."
"I'm just glad to get off three-hundred ninety-nine (career home runs). It sounds like something you'd purchase at a discount store."
"I never had to cheat, I get them with what I got."
"I've experienced a lot of things in baseball, but I've never been traded during a strike. At least I know I'll be in a new uniform the next time I put one on."
"I went to jail. I looked like one of those savings-and-loan guys leaving the jail house."
"Last year (1978) I became a lot more patient. I learned the strike zone a lot better and I realized that sometimes it's better to take a walk than make an out on a bad pitch."
"My favorite All-Star memory was when I was selected the second time, playing that game at home in San Diego. The applause at the old Murph, my home park at the time, was thunderous and long. In the All-Star Game, I got a lot of hits, won a lot of games, played with a lot of my idols and became friends. Once you step on the field, you've earned it. I would have gone to the All-Star Game any time. I was going to go no matter what." — On his favorite All-Star Game memory
"Now that we're (the 1987 New York Yankees) at .500, there's only two ways to go."
"The only players that are having fun are those having a good year, feasting on pitching or blowing down hitters and garnering all the adulation that goes with it. But, if you're not hitting or not throwing well, or are injured, you better look for fun someplace else."
"These days baseball is different. You come to Spring Training, you get your legs ready, you arms loose, your agents ready your lawyer lined up."
"Tom Cruise only makes one or two film appearances a year. A baseball player can be the hero or the goat one-hundred and sixty-two times a year."
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