Ken Griffey changed the game, but he also represented pop culture and the youth - how he wore his hat backwards, how he swung the bat and walked off...he brought energy to the game, class to the game. He was kind of the first person I really watched. He was a big influence.
You know how hard it is to play the game from game to game, at-bat to at-bat, so many things can change.
I am an arm hitter. When you snap the bat with your wrists just as you meet the ball, you give the bat tremendous speed for a few inches of its course. The speed with which the bat meets the ball is the thing that counts.
My favourite game is wiffle ball, a fake version of baseball with a plastic ball and bat that's really for kids.
It's not really part of the game to say, 'Oh, it's a batter's game; it's a batter's game' - I don't know why it goes on. It's a beautiful game that's greatly competitive between bat and ball.
When the ball is over the middle of the plate, the batter is hitting it with the sweet part of the bat. When it's inside, he's hitting it with the part of the bat from the handle to the trademark. When it's outside, he's hitting it with the end of the bat. You've got to keep the ball away from the sweet part of the bat. To do that, the pitcher has to move the hitter off the plate.
Every at-bat, I try to hit the ball. I don't like to strike out. I put the ball in play a lot, so I'll take the hits as they come.
When I look at someone like Andrew Symonds, I see a player who has done phenomenally well with the bat, as his record shows. He certainly has the ability to be a very good all-rounder, but I think to be a great one, you need to be able to turn a game with the bat or the ball.
You can't see the bat hit the ball if you're generating any bat speed. If you're just laying the bat through the strike zone, sure, maybe.
How to hit home runs: I swing as hard as I can, and I try to swing right through the ball... The harder you grip the bat, the more you can swing it through the ball, and the farther the ball will go. I swing big, with everything I've got. I hit big or I miss big. I like to live as big as I can.
As an artist I write about the world I want to live in. And as a musician and someone who is in the public eye, I think you have this responsibility to influence people. So I try influence people to live from their heart and make conscious decisions , and I try just inspire people to make positive change. That's purely the reason I do it. I want to see the world get better, you know?
And, you know, you try and preach to them there's more to this game than just walking up to home plate, swinging the bat, fielding a ground ball. There's some dedication in it, some love you've got to put into this work.
I try to keep the ball up to the bat, and I usually get the ball to outswing, so I get wickets like that.
I always knew I wanted to play golf and go to college. I try hard to be a positive role model, especially on the golf course. I try to carry myself well, and don't do anything outrageous. I try to play the game like a gentleman and give everyone respect. That's how the game should be played.
No one can ever see the ball hit the bat because it's physically impossible to focus your eyes that way. However, when I hit the ball especially hard, I could smell the leather start to burn as it struck the wooden bat.
Who cares how many miles per hour the ball traveled once it left the bat, or how high the ball traveled in degrees, or how many seconds it took to leave the ballpark?