Our whole family had been sports oriented. My dad had played a lot of semipro but never had any opportunity to do anything with it. Back then, he had to make a living.
I liked Jackie as an individual. I felt bad about how he was treated. He's a better man than me by far.
I wanted to be successful enough that I'd have opportunities to talk about the church. I wanted people to listen whenever I talked about it.
I got the nickname 'Deacon' because I didn't swear, didn't drink, went to church, and did quite a bit of speaking in other churches, youth groups, and so forth.
That's what I think most players want to be remembered as, being a good competitor. Not being a guy who makes excuses. There are a lot of guys who make an excuse before the game why they're not going to win. And those guys are losers.
You sign a contract, and you abide by the contract. And sometimes my turn would come around on Sunday. Even though I didn't like to play baseball on Sunday, it was my job.
We just had a bunch of guys who liked each other, and we worked well together and sacrificed to win ball games. It was a real team effort.
Sometimes you're going to be shoved into a corner, and even though it's against your principles, against the way that you like to play the game, you're going to have to protect your own players.
I could not have taken what he took, sliding into second base and having a guy stand over you and spit on you, call you every name in the book. Believe me, for him not to respond, to ignore it and not retaliate, you can't say enough good about Jackie.
They couldn't sign me until after I graduated, but right after graduation day, I had nine different organizations there wanting to sign me.
I wouldn't trade my life with anybody else. I played during the golden day of baseball, back when it was a game and when it was fun.
I played against a lot of guys, a lot of good players, and I remember those guys. They're friends now. They weren't then. You wanted to beat them.