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I'm a New Yorker now, and believe me, there's no comparison between the Big Apple and Kalamazoo, no similarity at all. New York City's hectic, always in fast-forward, and Kalamazoo's more laid-back, smaller, slower.
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You have to assume that everything you do is public knowledge. Everything. Because now everyone is a reporter. Everyone is a photographer.
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I want to own a team one day. You know, that's my next goal.
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My dad had been shortstop when he was in college, and you know, when you're a kid, you want to be just like your dad.
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It's never over. You don't want to be in the position to be down four runs in the ninth inning, but it's not over until the last out.
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I've been asked to sign a forehead.
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There's feelings there, but I think I've just been pretty good at trying to hide my emotions throughout the years. I try to have the same demeanor each and every day.
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Don't get me wrong; it's not like I didn't go out and have fun. But there's been a lot of players that come to New York and get caught up in the lifestyle, and before you know it, they're sent away to another team because it affected their performance.
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I think, a lot of times, players get in trouble when they're asked questions and they think they have to find a way to answer it. If you ask me a question and I say, 'I don't know,' there's really no follow-up.
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Not everybody's a baseball fan.
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I always take criticism as a challenge. It's the way I've always looked at it.
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I have feelings. I'm not emotionally stunted.
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You can't quantify everything a player does to win games.
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The thing that means the most to me is being remembered as a Yankee, because that's what I've always wanted to be, was to be a Yankee.
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I don't really see myself getting a Twitter account. Nothing against it. I get it. I especially get it for businesses.
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I attribute much of my success in New York to my ability to understand and avoid unnecessary distractions.
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The number one priority is playing baseball. There are so many people in New York trying to get you to do this and get you to do that, which is fine, but you have to take care of yourself.
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I wish I trusted people more. But when I meet someone, the first thing is, 'What does this person want?' And I put up a defense mechanism. But I've always been that way.
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You gotta have fun.
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Walking around sometimes, I would love to just be able to watch people, see how they act. Sometimes I would love to be invisible.
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You can't be sensitive, because you're going to get criticized. I don't care who you are, you're going to get criticized.
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You tell me you want to race down the street, I'm going to try to beat you. My grandmother asks me to race down the street, I'm going to try to beat her. And I'll probably enjoy it. Competitive to a fault, sometimes.
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Obviously, you're known for what you do. But you still want to be known as a good person. You're a person a lot longer before and after you're a professional athlete.
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When it was time for parent-teacher conferences, I remember that I was always embarrassed about what my parents would hear about me!