Athlete

L.A. has always been home.

If I could do it over, I'd want to come up to the big leagues like Mike Trout. He's exciting and I like watching him.

I never got used to getting hurt and watching games on the bench. So, it's a little frustrating for me to sit there and watch my guys go out there and play every day.

Somebody had asked me how it was to be in Atlanta, and I said that Atlanta had always been known as a Braves city, a baseball town.

Everything is repetition in baseball. When you get all out of whack and do something different, you feel weird.

Beast Mode doesn't make excuses. It doesn't complain. Whatever you're doing, go out there and get it done. Keep pushing. If I have a bad game, I think about what I have to do to return to form. Figure it out, go to sleep, and wake up a new man.

You never know what God has in his plans for you.

I've been traded a couple times, but I've enjoyed the experience of new cities and cultures and all types of things.

Sometimes I forget how much people look at you as their hero. I forget that.

Frank McCourt is a great guy.

I don't go out with the plan, 'Let me find a celebrity to go date.' That's just not something you do. I'm just looking for a good person, someone who can be my friend, and someone I can have fun with. She doesn't have to be a celebrity; she can be a regular chick. She's got to be smart, though. I like smart women.

Fans - they want to see results. I've been a fan before. I get it. But I see the bigger picture, too. I would never say an athlete sucks after they've been good, because you don't know what they're going through. They might be going through something that they can't shake.

I'm always telling people baseball needs to be more prominent in the African American community. What a better way to do so, going on these TV shows and appearing on the cover of this or that. Now kids can see how baseball can change your life. Frank Thomas did that for me.

I get bored real easy. I'm so used to L.A. and the pace that when I go home now I start thinking, 'Something's not right, something's not feelin' right.' I just gotta do what I gotta do in Oklahoma and get back to the fast-paced city.

I've always liked shoes. I peep everybody's shoes out to see what they're rocking.

I don't think people understand what microfracture surgery is. It's pretty serious. A lot of basketball players get it in their knees, and if they do bounce back, it takes a while.

I don't do stuff to be a star. I do it because I feel it's important for kids, African American kids, to see an African American face that plays baseball.

I'm just going to live my life the way I want to.

We definitely weren't poor growing up, but we weren't rich.

I love looking and seeing what kind of shoes women wear. I think that tells me if a person knows what they're doing. To me, shoes are... If I like your shoes, and you're pretty, that's a good quality. As well as being confident.